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June 28, 2014 Books, Children's Books, Children's Literature, Children's Stories, creative writing, ebooks, short stories, vampires Leave a comment bookschildren's booksChildren's FictionChildren's Literaturechildren's storiesebooksVampireVampire booksVampire literaturevampires
Vampire masters eBook Technology with minimum Bloodletting
Iconic scene from F. W. Murnau's Nosferatu, 1922
Over on Maria Thermann's blog I've just explained my heroic efforts of dealing with uploading my ebook text into the Bookrix template – so this gives me the perfect opportunity to tell all of you creatures of the night out there what to watch out for when using your own artwork or book cover design for publishing an ebook via Bookrix.
I chose to create my own artwork for Willow the Vampire's various adventures but this meant that Bookrix's own logo and the tag line I wanted to insert were causing a multitude of problems.
If you are not choosing from one of their own royalty free templates, it best to use option 2 (upper left hand side of the upload screen), which allows you to upload and insert your own picture/artwork and insert the text via Bookrix text boxes. It also allows you to unclick the Bookrix logo and their book category, so these won't appear on your book any longer once unclicked.
You are given lots of different font, colour and size choices for your title, tag line and author name but each will always appear in the dead centre of the part of the cover where you place your text box, which can be a nuisance if your artwork just happens to be a face – people who write their memoires will probably be cursing the No. 2 option.
For best results your design should have 3 areas that are fairly uni-coloured, so the text of the title, author name and tag line, if using, stands out as much as possible and isn't obscured by the photo or artwork in the background. Anything preventing the reader who searches for ebooks to decipher what it says on the cover may throw your book out with distrubtion channels (Amazon, Google etc).
Placing the tag line on the Willow the Vampire & the Sacred Grove cover was a nightmare, because no matter what text colour I chose, it never stood out well against the background colours.
This is approximately what I ended up with: So I'll now have to change the cover on Amazon & Kindle & Scribd.com to match all of them to the Bookrix cover. It's not the cover I'd hoped for but hey, I know better for next time.
And herewith I have now addressed a young reader's – Miss Baethge – concern, namely that my last blog post didn't contain the links for the ebooks I had uploaded on Bookrix. I simply hadn't received them then. Just click on the book title in the paragraph above and it will take you to the sales page, so you can have a look at how your ebook might be displayed to people who have not signed up to Bookrix but could potentially buy your book. It's free to join Bookrix.
Within the community, once you're a member, authors can join groups like they would on Goodreads and have discussions, promote their work, get advice etc. I'm really chuffed with the author page I got, which was easy to set up and looks amazing. It comes complete with a blog that allows authors and readers to communicate. Again, this was totally free.
The other two ebook links for Willow's adventures are:
http://www.bookrix.com/_ebook-maria-thermann-to-hell-with-bloodsuckers/
http://www.bookrix.com/_ebook-maria-thermann-an-embarrassment-of-witches/
It is entirely free to publish ebooks, you get an ISBN number without any upfront cost and as long as you ignore their "if your book is ready upload the whole file" option and copy and paste instead into their "editorial template", the second option on the upload page, you should get your book out there in no time. I've explained this in more detail on my Maria Thermann blog.
Description: The Vampire. 1893. Edvard Munch. Munch Museum at Oslo. xfgxdtjh
Distribution with some of the bigger ebook sellers can take up to two weeks before your ebook is listed, so my next post should contain the links to Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Apple iBookstore, Thalia, Google etc and I will update the Willow front page for this blog at that point – to have a coherent promotional approach, according to the Bookrix promotion guide I was sent for free.
A word of warning: if the layout of your book's manuscript or your spelling and grammar leave a lot to be desired, you won't be published and the Bookrix team will reject your book; you must revise it before trying again.
You can also upload books without selling them, making them available for free, which is what I have done to whet readers' appetite for Willow's adventures. It's a single short story published as a book.
(Willow the Vampire book cover artwork copyright Maria Thermann, all rights reserved; source of pictures: Wikipedia; please note:
F.W. Murnau – screen capture around the 1hr 19min mark; a screenshot of the 1922 film, Nosferatu. Though the film is in the public domain in the US, It is not in the public domain outside of US (and its origin). License details: Public domain in the United States, likely copyrighted in Germany until at least 2029)
May 26, 2014 Books, Children's Books, Children's Literature, Children's Stories, creative writing, Fantasy, Fiction, vampires Leave a comment children's booksChildren's FictionChildren's Literaturecreative writingDraculaVampirevampiresWillow
A little moth-eaten around the Edges
No, I'm not talking about myself here! Although, admittedly the image staring back at me in my mirror could do with smoothing out, peeling off the old and pasting on a younger, fresher smile once in a while. At least you still have a mirror image, I hear the vampire enthusiast among you cry. You are right, one should always be grateful for small mercies in life and after-life.
Actually, my comment about being a bit moth-eaten around the edges was aimed at the movie "The Moth Diaries" which I finally got around watching last weekend when I wanted a break from writing chirpy travel articles about Spain and Portugal.
Although I'm not strictly saying that the film was boring – far from it – it just took such a long time getting round to what it wanted to say that I was tempted to shout "aren't we there yet" at my laptop screen, like an impatient child sitting in the back of a car on her way to Harry Potter World.
I liked the moth element of this supernatural tale, which of course was chosen because it mirrored the protagonist's happiest childhood memory; only the vampire knew how to twist and pervert this life-sustaining memory into something deadly and morbid.
What I found interesting was the fact that this supernatural caper went back to the pre-Dracula days in the vampire genre when vamps where emotional life suckers rather than the blood-slurping variety. These are, of course, the type of vampires one is more likely to encounter in real life than the fangy Count D.
It made me think back of my school days and how certain types of people simply cannot bear to see others being friends or lovers without wanting to insinuate themselves into the middle and sucking the life out of that relationship.
Oddly enough, elements of the Transylvanian school of thought, as I call the emotional life sucker folklore, will be creeping into my 2nd Willow adventure too, although for the moment I have put this to the backburner to finish another book.
How do you prefer your creatures of the night? Biting with gusto into a throaty, full bloodied adventure or wheedling their way into the heart of the matter like a sly maggot?
(picture source Wikipedia: The Moth Diaries is a 2011 Irish-Canadian horror film directed by Mary Harron. It is based on a 2002 novel of the same name written by Rachel Klein)
January 1, 2013 Books, Children, Children's Books, Children's Literature, Children's Stories, creative writing, Fantasy, Fiction, vampires 9 Comments childrenchildren's booksChildren's FictionChildren's LiteratureChristmasDarrenFelicityLondonVampireVeniceWillowWitchcraft
An Embarrassment of Witches
I promised the real Willow, the little girl who is the inspiration for my Willow the Vampire stories, her very own New Year's story, so here it is and hopefully you'll enjoy reading it!
"You've got to be kidding me!" Darren's brown eyes widened at the sight of his best friend's costume. "You're going to the New Year's party dressed in THAT?"
Willow sighed. "That's all they had left at the costume hire shop. Mum took one look at me and burst out laughing…as for Dad, he almost had a fit. I wished I could check what it looks like in the mirror. Is it really that hideous?"
"You'd be better off going as yourself…unless THIS is your real self," Darren dropped into a comfortable rocking chair by the fire and studied the pink vision in front of him.
"Very funny, Darren Taylor! What am I going to do? There's no time to make a different outfit by tonight. The invitation says people not in costume will be turned away. It's my party; I can't break my own rules!"
"You know Felicity will never let you forget this?"
Flopping into a worn leather sofa Willow buried her face into furry paws. "Don't remind me! Botheration, I so wanted tonight to be a success."
A grin spread across Darren's face. Sounding remarkably like their headmaster's daughter, he said in a squeaky voice: "Oh my, Willow Band, we have discovered a new species! Our village will be in every newspaper!"
Willow pulled a face. "All my old friends from vampire infant school have been invited. Compared to the things they're going to say about my sudden fluffiness, Felicity's comments will be positively refreshing." Willow groaned, when she saw the expression on Darren's face. "You're right; she'll never let me forget it. I'm doomed!"
"Oh come on, you've got to see the funny side. Besides, it's only one night out of your life; it's not the end of the world. By the way, isn't it rather uncomfortable sitting on that…erm…thing on your back? You might want to take it off until later."
Willow reached behind her and extracted her tail. "Oh, I squashed it. It was a lot fluffier when I put on the suit," she wailed. "Can't I get anything right? I'm a failure as a vampire AND I suck at being a carrot-nibbler. Just look at me, I'm a great fat, fluffy joke!"
"Hey, don't give up before you have explored all your options. Perhaps we could make you look a little more…uh…dangerous?"
"Exactly how many Barbie-pink, blood-sucking bunnies have you met in your life, Darren?"
There was really no answer to that. Darren got up and began to prowl the room, absentmindedly fingering the ornaments on the little table by the window, pulling out books from the shelf by the fireplace and upsetting the cat by treading on its bowl of biscuits. Willow watched her pet Bartholomeaow inspect the carpet in disgust, his favourite fish-flavoured dinner now spread out all over Willow's floor. A heavy sigh escaped Willow, temporarily halting Darren's pacing.
"I could wear my beasty face and show my fangs…that would make me look more…grrrrr," the large pink bunny on the sofa said wretchedly. The grandfather clock in the hallway struck 4 o'clock, only two more hours before the first guests were expected to arrive! Willow pulled off her furry paw gloves and sank deeper into the sofa cushions in an effort to disappear.
"Maybe…if I put on some bear claws instead of these things?" She said without much enthusiasm and looked pleadingly at her friend. "I'm a vampire, a blood-thirsty fiend; I can't go out there dressed like this!"
Darren stopped his prowling abruptly. He turned the book he held in his hands with an air of surprise and puzzlement, until he realised he had picked it up during his travels around the room. His eyebrows rose when he read the title. It was a children's book called The little Witch by Willow's favourite writer Ottfried Preussler.
"I think I may have an idea but we'll need our friend Rita's help. There's nothing like a little witchcraft to spice up a party!" An expression of mischief mingled with determination to help his friend stole across Darren's face and for the first time that afternoon Willow felt more hopeful, her party might still be a success.
Two hours later the first guests arrived and Darren showed them into the living room, where a table groaning with yummy food and lots of lemonade awaited them. Decorated with left-over glitter from Christmas and a few shrunken heads from the novelty shop in the village, the white table cloth showed off nicely most of Willow's favourite things to eat. Her mum had done her proud, for nobody could possibly feel left out.
There were pumpkin pies, cheese cake and chocolate muffins for Willow's human friends, a tray with slices of fried black pudding, barbequed fingers and boiled eyeballs just right for vampires, and for her cat Bartholomeaow there was a large plate of tuna. Next to a jug of home-made lemonade Willow spotted a decanter of spiced blood wine, her absolute favourite drink. Naturally, this wasn't real wine but cranberry juice, since her mum had prepared it for a children's party and not for grown-ups, but the other ingredients were just the same, a dash of blood from those nasty bankers in the High Street spiced up with plenty of cinnamon, ginger and cloves from old Mrs Edward's market stall.
Darren, dressed as a blood-thirsty pirate, waited by the front door and greeted every new friend on Willow's behalf, directing them to the living room, where Willow waited on a small pedestal behind a red velvet curtain. She felt rather silly, standing there like a statue on a market square about to be unveiled to an astonished public, or a supermarket gimmick or juggler in a shopping mall but having mulled over Darren's plan from every angle, she felt there was little choice but to go through with it.
Verruca and Maximilian Snaggletooth, two vampire cousins from London, entered the hallway with a flourish and much noise. They were both dressed as noblemen from Venice, with lace collars, stockings and breeches, embroidered silk coats and wide-brimmed hats to which they had affixed ostrich feathers. They felt their rich clothes made it right and proper for them to inspect Willow's country cottage with their noses high up in the air. Their high-pitched voices discussed the threadbare carpet and medieval hall mirror of questionable origin, when the next wave of guests arrived. Willow sighed, bracing herself for more nasty comments. Her cousins had only been invited because Willow's dad had insisted on it.
Willow's cottage couldn't compete with the grand houses her city cousins lived in, but it was her home and at least she didn't have to put up with the constant noise of wailing police sirens and passers-by throwing rubbish into their garden. The day her parents had packed their belongings into a removal van and decided from now on they'd be living in the village of Stinkforth-upon-Avon had been the happiest day of Willow's life. While Verruca discussed the lack of bathrooms in the cottage and Maximilian moaned about the faded wallpaper in the living room, Willow reminded herself that rural Stinkforthshire County had many advantages, especially its great distance from London, making visits by her cousins a rare treat.
Unable to resist the temptation of a mysterious curtain at the far end of the living room, Verruca and Maximilian peeped through a gap in the heavy fabric. When they spotted their country cousin, they howled with laughter. Impatient as ever, Willow's cousins pulled back the curtain with an amusing cry of Tallyho.
"I annoyed a passing witch. A powerful spell, I'm afraid." Willow said confidentially, ignoring her cousins' toothy grins. She raised her paws in a mock gesture of attack. "Grrrruesome claws, I tell you."
"You look about as scary as my grandmother's bed socks." Verruca sniffed. "Mind you, the whiff coming from your feet's just as gruesome, I grant you that."
Maximilian tried to pull one of Willow's long ears but she slapped his wrist. "On the stroke of midnight things will really kick off. I'll turn into this horrible – " Willow raised her paws dramatically, "this horrible, grrrrrrrreat big beasty. And after that things will just go from bad to worse. What am I going to do, if I can't break the spell? Spring's just around the corner. Warmer weather, bumble bees, primroses and tulips, the usual dangers to our kind." Willow sighed deeply and smoothed out her fur.
Baffled, Verruca and Maximilian said in one voice. "But we're vampires – we don't feel heat or cold…why should you be worried about spring time, insects and a few flowers?"
Willow shook her head, allowing her ears to flop around her chin. She gestured for her cousins to come closer and whispered: "Shshsh, not so loud…somebody might hear you…it simply won't do upsetting the Easter Bunny. He's the Black Hare's best friend." She twitched her whiskers knowingly and straightened her shoulders. "The Vampire Council of 1837 could tell you a tale that would make your blood curdle and your fangs fall out."
Maximillian shrank back, but Verruca was not easily impressed. She snorted dismissively: "Upsetting the Easter Bunny, are you mad? We're blood-sucking fiends; we're not scared of anybody!"
"Oh, but you should be! I guess your parents thought you were too young to hear such a grizzly tale. Ah well, don't say I didn't warn you. Oh look…more guests!"
Willow turned away quickly before Verruca could think of a suitable reply; new guests had arrived in the hallway. Willow craned her neck and caught a glimpse of Felicity, dressed as a witch! By the look on Darren's face, Willow could tell he was as surprised by this latest development as she was. Felicity stood in front of the hall mirror, straightening out her long blond hair before finally adjusting her high hat, made from black felt and sheets of thin cardboard that had once held quantities of their headmaster's favourite breakfast cereal. The wide brim partially shaded her face, so Willow couldn't tell Felicity's reaction to the sight of the living room table laden with some of Felicity's favourite cakes.
Felicity was accompanied by a tall dark-haired boy, who was dressed as a warlock in purple robes. From the way she abruptly turned her back on the boy and now hovered by the mirror far longer than was necessary, Willow guessed Milo had tried to impress Felicity with the choice of his costume but Felicity did not like what she saw. She was clearly trying to avoid entering the living room on her own, as this would give Milo a fresh opportunity to talk to her. Undeterred, Milo tried to catch her attention by waving a golden wand at every new arrival entering the hall. A bunch of spring flowers shot out from the wand's business end whenever Milo cried the words "sim sala bim".
Darren, who was handing out glasses of lemonade to the new arrivals, could barely keep a straight face, when two of the guests, Romanticus Spitfire and Evangeline Eagleye from Dartford, responded with a heartfelt "Gesundheit" and hurried into the living room before another bout of Milo's floral magic could block their way.
Felicity remained in the hallway, apparently admiring her witch's costume in the medieval mirror, leaving Milo no choice but to enter the living room on his own. Willow decided to take pity on her. Now that Willow's curtain disguise was blown, she might as well step down from her pedestal and join her party guests. She hopped down on the Turkish carpet and waved a furry pink arm at Felicity, who turned and stared open mouthed at the vampire-turned-fluffy-bunny.
"I annoyed a passing witch. A powerful enchantment, I'm afraid." Willow explained in response to Felicity's wide eyed wonder. Willow strolled into the hall and linked her furry arm through Felicity's, not forgetting to express admiration for the silver threaded cross stitching on the blonde witch's dress, before Felicity had a chance to make a cutting remark about Willow's fluffy white tail.
Willow was starting to enjoy Felicity's polite refusal to comment on her costume, but the sight of Milo's purple warlock costume and Willow's plush generosity when they reached the living room table finally got the better of Felicity. She cocked her head to one side and studied Willow's pink fur.
"Before Daddy dropped me off outside your house, we saw Farmer Edward's son heading this way. He was dressed as a forester with a gun to frighten the living daylights out of Little Red Riding Hood's wolf. I seem to remember a great big knife dangling off his belt, just right for skinning bunnies. Aren't rabbit collars terribly fashionable this winter? You might want to change into something less…uh…tempting?"
"Don't be deceived by my pink appearance. I assure you, a blood-thirsty monster lives within this fur." Ignoring Felicity's snort, Willow planted her furry feet firmly in front of her and picked up a plate. "Just wait until midnight. Then the second part of the spell kicks in. Ah…I'd better have some cake before I'm tempted to eat one of my guests."
Willow heaped enormous slices of cheese cake onto two plates and held one out to Felicity. "A magical remedy. Apparently eating cheese cake stops killer rabbits from turning really nasty. Speaking of sorcery, I see you chose your costume to match Milo's magical theme. I bet he's thrilled. What legendary people are you meant to be…Merlin and Melinda Hogroast? I heard they were a delightful couple."
Before Felicity's growl could transform into a cry of protest, a helpful Willow recalled a few more magical characters: "No wait, I've got it! You're Magwitch the Mad and he's Houdini's sidekick whatshisname…Bertie the Hopeless, that's the one! Or perhaps you're the German witch famous for her terrible warts…no? Then you're Hekate and Milo is Taliesin, the Welsh wizard with a taste for leaks and a wand full of daffodils!"
"I'm Demdike and Milo's dressed as James Device. We're characters from the Pendle witch trials, which you'd know if you paid attention in history class," Felicity snapped. She snatched the plate of cheese cake and turned on her heels, darting off towards the velvet curtain and the little pedestal, where Willow had planned to hide until the party's great surprise was ready to be sprung on her guests.
Darren and Farmer Edward's son entered the living room; to her dismay Willow saw he really had dressed up as a fierce forest ranger. They were joined by Romanticus Spitfire and Evangeline Eagleye; the former was dressed like a knight, while the latter was regrettably also dressed as a witch. Before Darren had a chance to talk to them, both vampires drifted towards the table where the platter with barbequed fingers occupied their attention.
"Nice to see you again, Willow." Georgie, Farmer Edward's son, was far too polite to notice the colour rising on Willow's cheeks matched her fur. He reached into a satchel on his back and produced a glass of home-made jam. "Mum sends you this. She said you like this stuff."
"Strawberries! I adore them. Thank you very much." Willow beamed at him. "Look, Georgie drew a picture of his parent's farm for the label. Cool. I like the way you've caught the light on the barn and fields."
Acknowledging Georgie's drawing with a polite growl, Darren turned his attention to the latest newcomers' costumes. Romanticus wore real armour that looked incredibly heavy and shiny. Evangeline's costume consisted of a long black robe over a dark red skirt and shirt. Just like Felicity she wore a tall black hat with a wide brim. She carried a broom on her back, which she had attached to a leather strap and slung over her shoulder. A dead bat dangled from a silver necklace around her neck and she'd attached a fake wart to her chin. Darren sidled over to the table and stood next to her.
"So Willow's rather fond of strawberries? Is that a fruit humans use to calm bunny-monsters?" Evangeline dug her bony elbow playfully into Darren's ribs and grinned, the wart wobbling dangerously on her chin.
"Sometimes, but more often than not we use chocolate." Darren tugged at Evangeline's broom. "Good job you brought this. We may need it at midnight, when the second part of Willow's spell sets in."
"Don't be silly, Willow's not enchanted, she's wearing this stupid pink outfit because she's gone soft on humans. I have no doubt when the Vampire Council hears of this, she'll be expelled or something. De-fanged probably. Ridiculous lie, who's ever heard of witches casting spells in parts?"
"But that's where you wrong; this particular witch does things quite differently. Compared to her you look positively cuddly, if you don't mind me saying so. You should have seen her out there in the forest…it was terrifying. We were out for a stroll, when we stumbled into her lair." Darren drew closer, his brows drawn together in an effort to remember every detail of his ordeal. "The forest witch wore robes made from squashed human skulls, her hat was made from a hundred live snakes and her boots were snarling wolves' heads."
Darren paused for effect. Other children began to gather around them. He noticed Romanticus hung on his every word, but detected a flicker of doubt in Evangeline's eyes and so hurried to complete his tale. "The witch rode a black stallion, a brute of a horse with fiery nostrils and stinky breath that would stop a stampeding herd of buffalo in their tracks, but Willow mocked the witch, saying she wasn't scary at all. To prove she wasn't frightened, Willow offered breath mints to the witch's horse. At this the witch got very angry and drew her wand; she yelled: Be cursed for your impudence, child! On the stroke of five o'clock you shall turn into the feeble bunny that you are at heart, but at midnight…I'll turn you into the meanest, ugliest, most brutal creature this world has ever known."
Romanticus eyed him nervously. "W-Wha-what's that?"
"The Black Hare!" Willow and Darren whispered as one.
"The B-B-Black Hare?"
"His razor-sharp claws are so long, he can slice a boy in half with one swipe of his paw." At the sound of Willow's voice the room fell silent. "When the Black Hare doesn't get his favourite food, he gets very angry…and he stops time! Just think…no more Easter…no more Christmas…no birthdays and no New Year's Eve…EVER! Just you and the Black Hare for all eternity."
"Wha-what's his favourite food?" Felicity breathed.
"Children!"
"His fangs are so fearsome, they give sharks nightmares and tigers roll over like kittens at the mere sight of them." Darren peered over his shoulders, first left, then right, before slowly turning to the curtains at the rear of the room. He raised his hand and pointed with trembling fingers to the small pedestal. "That's the exact spot where the Black Hare will appear."
In the hall the grandfather clock struck the eleventh hour. Evangeline and Romanticus gasped. How could this be, they'd only just arrived? Verruca and Maximilian shifted nervously in their lace collars and tiptoed away from the table to get some distance between them and the ill-fated pedestal. Milo, Felicity and Georgie, who had drawn near, repeated the terrible words to all who would listen and within moments everyone at the party knew, at the stroke of midnight the Black Hare would seal their fate!
More guests arrived. A gaggle of children dressed as witches arrived from Telegraph Hill, a favourite South East London district for vampires with an artistic streak. There were short and fat witches, tall and skinny ones, bulky, muscular witches Willow vaguely recalled from her vampire infant school days and one brown-haired teenage witch in a shabby dress whom nobody remembered at all. Ignoring the hushed whispers of her party guests Willow handed a welcoming glass of blood wine to each new arrival and wondered if Darren's plan was really going to work.
If only she'd been able to explain about her ridiculous outfit, how she'd been so busy sorting out her mother's birthday present and surprise party, which was to be held in January, she'd forgotten to telephone the hire shop and reserve a New Year's Eve party costume for herself. When Willow had finally remembered, the pink bunny suit with the long ears and the white fluffy tail was the only costume the shopkeeper had left. Naturally, Willow couldn't explain this to her guests – her mum was flitting through the room, refilling glasses, heaping more food on the platters on the table; she would most certainly catch her daughter's words. A surprise party with all her mum's friends! How could Willow possibly spoil that? It had taken her weeks to write all the invitations in secret!
Willow swallowed her pride and endured the mean comments every new arrival made at the sight of her silly costume. Some pulled at her ears and some took the liberty of tugging her tail. Her response to every single guest remained the same: "Just wait until midnight. That's when the second part of the spell kicks in."
The new arrivals would soon hear the rest of the sinister tale…and wherever Willow looked guests were huddling together, looking worried as soon as the Black Hare was mentioned.
"I think that went rather better than expected," Darren said quietly beside her. He rubbed his hands together and chuckled. "Now for the rest of my cunning plan."
"Except your plan didn't involve dozens of witches turning up! How am I going to find the right one, when the lights go out?"
Darren acted surprised. "And there's me thinking vampires have super night vision. I forgot…you're really a fluffy bunny at heart."
Willow rolled her eyes. "Don't you start! I've been enduring comments about my cuddliness all evening. It's enough to make my grandmother Vampira the Ferocious turn in her grave."
Darren shuddered. "From the tone of your voice I'm guessing she's revolving in her coffin as we speak." He took a look around the room. "You're right; we do suffer from an embarrassment of witches this evening. I hadn't counted on so many people choosing the same costume." He twirled the ends of his fake moustache thoughtfully. "Never mind, I'll think of something. It's time you sneaked back to your place behind the curtain."
While Willow tiptoed into hiding behind the backs of her party guests, Darren put the second part of his plan into action. He drew the sword dangling from a broad belt around his waist and challenged the noble knight Romanticus to a duel. The sound of clashing wooden swords and the cries of the fighting boys caught everyone's attention. The Black Hare was forgotten, and a small crowd circled the boys. The vampires cheered for Romanticus and the village children rooted for Darren to win.
Unbeknown to her friends, Willow took up position on the pedestal once more. Darren had previously arranged the curtains in such a fashion that neither the left nor the right side of the alcove in which the pedestal stood could be seen. Two large mirrors would reflect back whatever scary pictures Rita's film projector would show on the wall behind. Willow chuckled. In the hall the grandfather clock struck the midnight hour. All lights went out. A united gasp from her guests told Willow the scene was set for her great performance. She wondered briefly how well Darren and Rita's plan would work, since there'd been no time to try the trick before the party, but she guessed finding out was just part of the fun. Darren's idea to put the clock forward was brilliant, Willow thought with a final snigger.
At the last stroke of the clock an eerie howl rose in the chimney and filled the house. The party guests shrieked and tried to find cover. Some crawled under the table, others climbed into the closet under the stairs. Caught in the middle of flight by a dark mass that seemed to drip from the fireplace and spread across the floor like a pool of blood, Verruca and Maximilian froze on the spot and threw their arms around each other.
"Please don't eat us! We're vampires and wouldn't taste nice at all. Why not try a few of the humans, they look quite tasty?" Verruca tried to joke but the wobble in her voice gave her away.
The sinister dark thing grew in size and rose up in front of the hearth. The ghostly shadow turned into tall witch. White skulls were grinning at them from her robes; flame red hair framed a pale green face that seemed to glow in the dark. Maximilian shuddered, when her hat began to hiss and spit fiery sparks. He clung closer to his sister and hoped her broad hat would shield him from the witch's stare.
The witch raised her arms and said in a booming voice: "I beseech you dark spirits! Bring forth the Black Hare so that he may feast on these idle children!"
Everyone screamed. Thunder and lightning followed. Ringlets of smoke began to rise from the witch's hat, her voice still ringing in everyone's ears. "Show yourself, oh mighty Black Hare!"
A flash of lightning illuminated Willow who, standing straight as an arrow on her pedestal, began to grow taller and taller; now she towered over her friends and her fur appeared longer, shaggier and darker. Willow raised her arms into the air and another flash of lightning revealed to her guests the unmistakable, horrible truth that long claws were sprouting from her paws.
"Blimey, Rita wasn't kidding. That's amazing." Darren gasped. In his wildest dreams he hadn't expected Willow's friend to pull off such a fantastic magic trick! Mirrors and smoke can work wonders, Rita had said.
Judging by the screaming and shouting, he felt Willow's party guests had probably had enough of a good thing. Darren decided to switch the lights back on, but he discovered the switch no longer worked. He flipped the switch up and down but the old fashioned chandelier dangling from the ceiling remained dark and distinctly "un-glowy". The fireplace was the only light source in the room. Over by the curtain the Willow-monster had nearly grown to twice its size. It stepped down from the pedestal and walked with wobbly steps towards the screaming party guests.
"Make it stop!" Felicity begged and dived behind the sofa.
"I'm too young to die!" Maximillian echoed his sister Verruca's cry.
"Don't be silly. You're vampires. You cannot die!" Evangeline hissed, clearly determined to show good sense. She somewhat spoiled the effect by climbing on a chair and lifting her robes to reveal two plump ankles and a hole in her socks.
"It's the Black Hare, you fool, not a mouse!" Georgie raised his gun and aimed it at the Willow-monster, temporarily forgetting his weapon would spout nothing more life-threatening than water. "You're not feasting on me, Black Bunny! Go back to where you came from." He squirted water at the ghostly creature, but it simply ignored Georgie's gun.
The Black Hare chased him around the table instead. After the second sprint around the table, a breathless Georgie reached into his satchel and produced another glass of his mother's jam. He held it out with shaking hands. "There's a good little bunny; you like strawberries, remember? Please don't eat me. Take the jam!"
Grunting and growling the Black Hare ignored the jam and stumbled about the living room, upsetting chairs and knocking over the table lamp. The Willow-monster chased after her guests one by one, driving them here and there, finally cornering them in the hall. The terrified party guests tried to open the front door, but it was locked. Over the din of growling, shouts and shrieks, Darren heard the grandfather clock strike the hour. On the last stroke of one o'clock the lights came back.
Darren tried to calm everyone down. Some were crying, others were too upset to speak and simply sank onto the sofa by the hearth, where no trace of the sinister witch remained. Darren looked around – where on earth was the Black Hare?
At the far end of the room, a pink and rather dazed bunny sat on the pedestal with her face buried in her paws. Darren hurried over to her.
"Just look at it, my party is ruined! How could Rita go so far?" Willow sniffed.
"But I didn't! This mess –" Rita stepped out from behind the curtains and gestured around the room with her broom stick, "is not my doing!"
Willow studied her friend's face and realised she spoke the truth. The Christmas sparklers in Rita's hat were still smouldering but the green glitter Darren had painted on her face earlier had started to peel off. She looked just as scared as everybody else.
"Then who did this? It really looked as if you were turning into the Black Hare!"
"Darren, there's no such thing as the Black Hare, we made him up, remember?"
Darren sank onto the pedestal next to Willow and scratched his head. "But if Rita didn't conjure him up, then who did? There's a whole room full of witches, anyone of them could be the culprit.
Willow stared at the assortment of witches before her and asked herself the same question. Which one of these harmless looking girls had terrified her guests and why? She studied every pointy hat and pale face in turn, but apart from ticking clueless Felicity off her list of wrong-doers Willow couldn't think how she could possibly unmask a magical being.
At that moment Willow's mum Alice entered the room, casually picking up a chair here and there and smoothing quite a few ruffled feathers among the guests with the promise of ice cream and pizza. Helping her clear up the mess was none other than the teenage witch with the brown hair and the shabby dress. The girl winked at Willow and Darren. Willow's mum joined her daughter at the far end of the room.
"My New Year's present to you, Willow. Thanks for inviting Miriam and her family to my surprise birthday party in January. They are some of my oldest friends. Miriam's so looking forward to it…in fact, she was so excited she rang me and thanked me before she remembered it was supposed to be a secret." Willow's mum said quietly.
Alice ran her fingers through Willow's brown hair. "Miriam is the finest witch in her class and I'm very fond of her. Miriam doesn't get out much, what with her mum being ill and her twin brothers still in nappies, she has too many chores. Most people just forget about Miriam and her family, because they're poor. But not you."
Willow's eyes widened. "She told you about the surprise party? And I was so careful, hiding the invitations under the stairs until they were ready to be sent and telephoning people when you were out! All my hard work wasted." Willow frowned. "How did you find out about our magic trick tonight? Are you a mind-reader? You seem to know simply everything."
"It's my job to know everything, I'm your mum!" Alice said, a smile stealing across a face. "Besides, the man from the novelty shop rang and said if you didn't reserve a costume by the 29th December, he could only give you a bunny costume that nobody else wanted to hire."
Willow digested this news. "So…you arranged for Miriam the wonder-witch to come here tonight?"
"All part of the service. Mums-R-Us were happy to oblige."
"But Mum…your birthday surprise is spoiled!"
Alice planted a kiss on Willow's nose. "Don't fret. Since I don't know who else you've invited, it's still going to be a surprise and besides, I regard this little magic trick of Darren and Rita's as part of my birthday treat. It was very entertaining the way everybody ran for their lives."
Willow sighed. "I wished all my party guests would see it that way, but I guess it's a vampire thing."
Darren grinned. "Nonsense! A little exercise is good for humans; now there's more room for pizza and ice cream. They deserved a little scare; they were all guilty of making fun of you." He got up and strolled over to the guests, who were each blaming the other for the mess in the living room. Darren stopped and bowed before Miriam, before introducing her to everyone, praising her for her fine magical performance that night. The young witch beamed, when a round of applause greeted her.
When Willow's guests heard the appearance of the Black Hare had been part of the evening's entertainment, they took it much better than expected; in fact, Verruca and Maximilian went to bed a few hours later, claiming it had been the best party they'd ever been to in their lives. As always, Felicity was the last guest to leave.
"I knew right away it was some kind of party trick," Felicity said, when she put on her coat. Her father was already waiting in the car outside. "I mean…there's no such thing as real witchcraft and it's all done with mirrors and smoke."
Willow merely grinned and handed her guest her gloves and scarf.
"Anyway, who's ever heard of the Black Hare? It was just a ruse to stop us from making fun of your silly costume, wasn't it, Willow Band?"
"Absolutely!" Willow said and extended one furry paw. Felicity eyed it suspiciously but shook it when it showed no sign of ferocious claws.
"Only the Easter Bunny knows the real identity of the Black Hare, but so far he's not given it away." Willow added with a toothy grin that showed both her fangs.
Felicity squeaked and shot through the front door with her witch's robes billowing behind her, her wide-brimmed hat barely clinging on to her long tresses as she ran down the garden path and scrambled into her father's car. Willow gave her a cheerful wave and turned to find Darren eating his final chocolate muffin of the day.
"You can stop making your beasty face now," Darren said with his mouth full as he headed up the stairs. "The show's over, Bunnikins, and I'm going to bed. Thank your mum again for letting me stay over. Maximilian had better not snore."
"If he does, just whisper in his ear Bring forth the Black Hare so that he may feast on these idle children and I guarantee you, Maximilian will stop."
She watched her friend climb the stairs and locked the front door, before switching off the lights in the hall. Only the dying embers of the fireplace lit her path up the stairs. Willow smiled to herself when the grandfather clock struck midnight, this time genuinely. She was looking forward to her bed and couldn't wait to take off her silly costume. Willow reached the upstairs landing with a big yawn and stretched her tired arms above her head. At the end of the long passage her mum had left a candle burning, so Darren and the other kids sleeping over would find their way. Willow smiled. Her mum really thought of everything. Willow had just decided she'd buy her mum a big bunch of flowers to thank her for helping with the New Year's party that day, when a loud crack startled her and she turned on her heel.
It had come from the hallway below. Willow peered over the balustrade and stared into the darkness below. Nothing!
"How silly of me, probably just the embers in the hearth," Willow mumbled, suppressing another yawn. She turned back towards her room but what she saw rearing up in front of her froze her on the spot and made her knees shake with fear.
The Black Hare!
Shadowy and sinister it loomed to her right, its monstrous ears sticking up in the air, its gigantic paws raised as if to pounce. Willow could feel the hair on the back of her neck rising; a chill ran up and down her spine. She took a careful step back; perhaps if she retreated slowly the monster wouldn't spot her? But the Black Hare had clearly no intention of letting her go and took a step towards her. Willow took another step back and another, now almost reaching the top of the stairs at full speed, but the Black Hare kept following her at the same pace. What should she do?
Willow peered over her shoulder and formed a daring plan. If she jumped on the banister she could slide down and reach the front door before the Black Hare had a chance to catch up with her. She'd lead it down into the garden, away from her friends and family, keeping everyone safe. After that…well, she'd often wondered what eternity would be like, so she'd probably find out tonight!
Willow cautiously swung one leg over the banister and was about to launch, when she saw the Black Hare lift one shaggy leg and copy her. Botheration!
What a fool she had been! Willow tugged her long ears and laughed. The Black Hare did exactly the same!
It was about time she went to bed, if she saw her own shadow as a threat!
Good night and Happy New Year to Everyone!
December 6, 2012 December 6, 2012 Children, Children's Books, Children's Literature, Children's Stories, creative writing, Fantasy, Fiction, vampires 3 Comments children's booksChildren's Literaturecreative writingFantasyFictionHarry PotterJ. K. RowlingLancashireMiddle AgesPendle witchesVampirevampiresWürzburgWitchcraft
Being a Witch is never easy
Examination of a Witch by T. H. Matteson, inspired by the Salem witch trials (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
In my second novel, Willow the Vampire and the Würzburg Ghosts, I'm using several real historical events as the starting point for my plot. One is the recent discovery of a "witch's cottage" near Pendle in Lancashire, where in 1612 the infamous Pendle Witch Trials took place. Two men and eight women were hanged as witches after extensive trials.
The other main historical event I'm using as background for my latest vampire lore is the even more infamous series of witch trials that took place in the city of Würzburg in Germany between 1626 and 1631.
The Würzburg witch trials are regarded as one of the largest peace-time mass trials, which were followed by mass executions on an unprecedented scale.
Responsible for the persecution of innocent men, women and lots of children was Bishop Philip Adolf, on whose orders an estimated six to nine hundred people were burnt alive at the stake or hanged.
My premise is that with such unjust killings there must be a lot of angry spirits about seeking revenge. As my previous posts have shown, ghosts have all manner of motives for clinging to the place where they lived or died. Revenge is always a good subject for a mystery or, in this case, a vampire story suitable for children aged 8 to 12 that discusses the subject of "evil" – what is evil, how do we stand up to it and who gets away with doing bad stuff?
This year marks the anniversary of two famous witch trials in the United Kingdom, by the way. Not just the Pendle trials but also the last conviction for sorcery, which took place in Hertfordshire in March 1712, is being commemorated this year. Fortunately, this trial had a kind of happy ending, when Queen Anne pardoned the accused sorceress Jane Wensham and thus saved her from the hangman's noose.
"The witch no. 1" lithograph (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Pretty much anyone could be accused of sorcery – if you were overhead talking to your cat or pet pig you could be accused of being in league with the devil – and the methods used for getting confessions out of alleged warlocks and witches were utterly horrendous…thanks to the oh so Christian torturers in charge of interrogations.
Over on http://www.mariathermann.wordpress.com I'm discussing my home town Lübeck's walled fortifications, in particular the famous Holsten Gate, which was once part of the city's fortifications. Until 2002, the Holsten Gate housed a gruesome torture chamber and "dungeon" exhibition in the museum, which I remember only too well from various school trips and visits with my grandparents.
If I recall correctly, it boasted a rack and thumb screws, branding irons and various other torture paraphernalia among its exhibits. It seems utterly impossible anyone should be so devoid of compassion and feeling that they should use such instruments on anyone, let alone small children, but this is what happened quite frequently under the Christian motto of "love thy neighbour".
Persecution of witches (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Willow the Vampire, champion for defenceless children and animals which get a rough deal at the hands of those who should care for them and protect them from harm, is having rather a busy time of it, what with saving the world from Ragnarög, saving best friend Darren AND dealing with an army of vengeful ghosts.
Burning at the stake. An illustration from an mid 19th century book. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Vampires, as a rule, like to mind their own business, so getting involved with human and supernatural beings that have their own agenda, is always going to contradict a bloodsucker's inner beliefs. Vengeance, on the other hand, is a subject vampires can relate to whole-heartedly. Will our Willow be tempted to go over to the dark side?
One thing's for sure, Willow the Vampire will remain a champion for children and this writer won't ever make light of their plight at the hands of adults. Unlike perhaps the writer who brought us Harry Potter. Am I the only one who finds the announcement that J K Rowling's adult novel The Casual Vacancy will become a BBC drama incredibly ill-timed and utterly distasteful?
As if the BBC wasn't in enough trouble over the Savill enquiry into paedophilia and rape allegations, namely sex crimes against children and young adults that allegedly happened under the very noses of former BBC bosses over a period of some 40 years! Now our licence fee is being used for this, a book that has not received much critical acclaim and is only being shifted thanks to the J K Rowling name?
One day I may write a Willow the Vampire novel that will deal with the ultimate evil creature of the night, the Jimmy Savills and Gary Glitters of this world. Naturally, I shan't use the subject of children or young adults being threatened by rape as a subject for satire and parody, which most of J K Rowling's readers found distinctly unfunny, when I last looked on Amazon's reviews.
No, I 'm far more likely to use the subject of BBC bosses in terror and utter distress, as vampire Willow and her friends barbeque them over a moderate flame, while basting them with home-made marinade provided by grateful licence fee payers.
October 12, 2012 Animals, Books, Children, Children's Books, Children's Literature, creative writing, Fantasy, Fiction, vampires, Wildlife 3 Comments AnimalChildren's LiteratureStinkforthshireTwilightTwilight ZoneVampireWürzburgWillow
Willow in the Twilight Zone
While over at mariathermann.wordpress.com I've been discussing how important location is to me as a writer, here at Willow the Vampire's own blog I have so far been looking mainly at nocturnal characters and their traits.
Willow and her family are creatures of the night themselves and naturally, this influences the way they view the world.
Not so long ago the excellent writer and teacher William Stadler talked about incorporating all the senses in one's writing on his own WP blog Stadler Style, such as using sound and temperature for example.
Doing so will not only help with characterization but also with setting a scene far more vividly. One draws the reader in more, when there are points of reference familiar to the reader, such as the sound of a school dinner bell or heavy rainfall or thunder and lightning or a car back firing.
At the time I commented how I like to use animals to set the scene and to give a "time" reference such as allowing a bumble bee to enter a room as a reference/metaphor for daylight, spring and new beginnings or, in contrast, use the flight of migratory birds to symbolise autumn, endings and melancholy.
After having shown you a whole host of creatures of the night Willow the Vampire might come across on her nocturnal rambles through the Stinkforthshire countryside, I felt it was about time to introduce the Twilight animals to you.
Vampires can come out to play after the sun has set and can remain outdoors until the sun rises again. Although this does not apply to Willow herself, it is nevertheless what she grew up with and what is most familiar to her – her vampire parents are forced to live that way.
At dawn and dusk a large variety of animals emerge that we don't always notice during the daytime hours. Take a stroll to a local river, pond or lake and you'll see what I mean. There are herons and egrets, dancing cranes and grebes, Common loon and cormorants, squirrels coming for a drink of fresh water and geese gathering to take off in formation.
In your garden or in the hedgerows there are hedgehogs and adders, snails and slugs, moths and mice, which suddenly awake to forage, to mate, and to communicate with the world.
In some ways Willow the Vampire has been stuck in her own twilight world – she is still exploring who she is and what she is…are all vampires evil…or are humans bad? A recent reviewer of Willow the Vampire and the Sacred Grove picked up on the underlying discussion of good versus evil and all the twilight shades in between. This theme will be explored further in Willow's second novel, when she sets out to deal with the problem of the Würzburg Ghosts.
Waterfowl are an interesting bunch and come in a great variety. There are divers, stalkers, hunters and shy creatures which, when startled, will break out in an ear-splitting call. As a child I often stayed in my grandparent's hut on their allotment by a riverbank and memories of this special time have remained with me life-long.
At dawn the world around me awoke with tweets and coughs, clucking and chattering, hooting and flapping of wings on water. These sounds symbolise for me a very special time of day as well as an important part of my upbringing. At dawn and dusk the world seems more vulnerable, being reborn and dying at the same time. During the day and at night, when we are alone, we may feel abandoned, forgotten, lonely and scared, but at dawn and dusk, when the world either wakes up with a yawn or rubs its sleepy eyes to got to bed, we feel differently.
The animals gathering by the water's edge may even be enemies at night or when the sun is high in the clouds, but at this special t'wixt and b'tween time a temporary cease-fire reigns and everyone gets on…
September 26, 2012 Books, Children, Children's Books, Children's Literature, creative writing, Fantasy, Fiction, vampires 3 Comments FantasyNeumünsterNorthern GermanyVampireWürzburgWillow
Village Vampires
One of the reasons why Willow the Vampire is set in rural (fictional) Stinkforthshire-upon-Avon is that I grew up in a village and am very much aware of the advantages and disadvantages of growing up in a small community.
As a vampire Willow is an outsider – as a newcomer to the village she is also an outsider. Making friends under such circumstances isn't easy and when you're from a "dysfunctional" family background like Willow, it's even more difficult to fit in.
As my lovely WP friend Michelle Barber (proud proprietor of the Loony Literature Laboratory, surrogate mother to Mildred the Cat) so astutely recognised, Willow's first novel is a journey of self-discovery. Aged 11, the vampire child is trying to find her place in the world.
S o what underlying theme will novel number two have? Well, my obsession lies with the dark underbelly of small communities and how the creatures of the night that stalk the village streets are not necessarily those fanged ones or ghostly apparitions the book title might suggest.
Although Würzburg, the setting for my second novel, was already a city during the witch trials that took place between 1626 to 1631, when hundreds of innocent men, women and children were tortured and murdered by an insane religious nutter-cum-prince-bishop regime, it was nevertheless a fairly small community by today's standards and serves as a perfect example, how small, insular or remote communities can turn on each other for no apparent or sane reason.
"Würzburg Cathedral" is a Roman Catholic cathedral in Würzburg in Bavaria, Germany, dedicated to Saint Kilian (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
When I go to visit Würzburg next year, I hope to join a museum's tour that deals with this issue of persecution. As part of the guided tour to the historical sights connected with the witch hunt, visitors are shown the Kiliansdom (Würzburg Cathedral) and the Neumünster (the New Minster) as well as the Town Hall, where the gruesome fate of nearly 1,000 people was decided. The guided tour, according to the blurb on their website, serves "to illustrate the religious and secular causes of the witch-hunts of the 17th century".
Just because picturesque Stinkforthshire, a village with 5,000 souls (minus a few vampires, who are there in body but not in "soul"), is on the tourist trail, has pretty flower baskets hanging from porches and a historic fountain gracing the market place, the village is not an idyll, where no crimes are committed and no unhappy thoughts are coursing through the minds of neighbours.
Some crimes are never brought to justice – they are not even regarded as crimes in the eyes of the law. How's this for an example?
While growing up in my very own affluent Stinkforthshire village in Northern Germany, we had a cleaning woman going round the houses of well-to-do citizens, whose hypocritical mentality saw no problem in spending her Sundays in church praying and lording it (morally speaking) over the rest of the community.
During the week, however, she would spend the time for which she got paid on snooping through her employers' cupboards and drawers to see, what "scandals" she could rake up. Naturally, whatever she discovered, or in some cases thought she had unearthed, she would gossip about with the clear intention of causing harm.
She was the mother of a school chum of mine – which made it very awkward at times to stay friends with a girl, whose mother continuously caused a lot of grief to people. In today's society libel is taken far more seriously than it was then and people are prepared to call in the lawyers, but back in the late 1960s and early 1970s, when this village menace had her peak, this was not the case.
The twist at the end of this tale is, as you might have expected, that this gossiping banshee had an affair with somebody. When her family found out, they were devastated and for a very long time, my school chum did not speak to her mother or wanted to have anything to do with her. At long last, the evil spell was broken and from that time onwards, the gossiping menace had to hold her tongue about other people's affairs.
Cathedral and city hall. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Crimes like libel or slander often go unreported in small communities – as for making people's life a misery by intrusive spying on one's neighbours and criticising their every move or busy-bodies constantly turning up at their neighbours' doorstep under some pretext to gain access into their home for the purpose of practically "running" the lives of widows/widowers or divorcees…those are in many ways also crimes, but they are not recognised by the law.
I know of one woman who was so terrorised by a couple of busy-body neighbours that she eventually fled to her son's home at the other end of Germany, just to get some respite for a few weeks at a time.
The good end to that story was that this much-put-upon divorced, single lady discovered the joys of going abroad (on her own) and she broke free of the village-mafia trying to run her life the way they thought she should be living it. She gained in confidence on her own accord and experienced a very different life to the one her neighbours had mapped out for her.
Neumünster, Würzburg, Germany. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
If anyone's interested in visiting Würzburg in the near future (perhaps to hear guest speaker Dr Dimitra Fimi at the university explain all things Hobbit, Tolkien and Fantasy Fiction), here are the details for the museum's tour:
Duration: Approx. 2 hours, Reservations: Congress · Tourismus · Wirtschaft, Gästeführervermittlung Am Congress Centrum, Turmgasse 11, D – 97070 Würzburg, Phone +49 (0) 9 31 / 37 26 50, Fax +49(0) 9 31 / 37 36 52, E-Mail: fuehrungen@wuerzburg.de, www.wuerzburg.de/fuehrungen
As for Willow, in the course of the second novel she will discover that EVIL can lurk behind many different masks, often disguised as something quite "harmless" and "socially acceptable".
(source of animation: heathersanimations.com, source of photographs Wikipedia)
September 6, 2012 Animals, Children, Children's Books, Children's Literature, Fantasy, Fiction, vampires 13 Comments GermanyGreek mythologyLittle MermaidRomantic RoadRomeVampireWürzburgWillow
Würzburg – A City worthy of being a Vampire's Lair
Before I get to my latest choice for the "creatures of the night" page, I'd like to explain a little about the location I've chosen for my follow-up novel to Willow the Vampire's first adventure (Willow the Vampire and the Sacred Grove).
In book number two, Willow the Vampire and the Würzburg Ghosts, my multi-stranded story will move between rural Stinkforthshire in the UK (a fictional place, please don't hassle your travel agent for details) and historic Würzburg in Germany.
The ancient city of Würzburg is entirely surrounded by beautiful forests and vineyards, virtually straddling the Main River. Officially, Germany's famous "Romantic Road" starts here and the city is a favourite with tourists exploring Germany for the first time.
Although around 90% of the old city centre was destroyed during WWII, my intrepid countrymen have lovingly recreated, restored and rebuilt what was once one of Germany's most beautiful cities. Würzburg was once a Franconian duchy, but things got complicated when three Irish missionary monsters arrived in 686.
With the usual hypocrisy of churchmen the three chaps, Totnan, Kolonat and Kilian, began to pester Duke Gosbert to convert to Christianity and naturally, all the inhabitants of the Duchy should follow suit.
In the process he was to get rid off his wife Gailana, who was his former sister-in-law, his brother's widow. In pre-Christian medieval times it was still a natural thing for people to marry their widowed brother or sister-in-law, but with the typical perversity of a Church that is happily abusing children, the Catholic monk-boys objected to two consenting adults being married in a perfectly legal match.
The 168 Meter long Seite of the Würzburg Residenz, built in Würzburg Prince-Bishops from 1719 to 1780. It is the most significant Residenzbau of late Baroque in Europe. She was inscribed in the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1981. The Residence is visited annually by approximately 350.000 Visitors. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
A woman after my own heart, Gailana didn't wait around until she got ditched – no, she hired a hit man or gang of thugs and had the three irritating hypocrites bumped off in 689.
The murders weren't discovered until several decades later and naturally, Rome had the three divorce-advocating missionaries declared saints. Würzburg became a city of pilgrimage in the process – always very lucrative, those saints' days coincide with market days, don't you know – and finally, the city became a bishopric in 742.
Most infamous for the witch hunt and subsequent burnings of nearly 1,000 people a few centuries later, the city was ruled with an iron fist by the resident prince-bishops from their hill-top perch on the Marienberg, where they had built a fortress in the early 13th century, possibly as early as 1201. The prince-monk-monsters must have been pretty fit – I give them that – it takes around 20 minutes to walk up the steep hill, which is covered in vineyards. From there our princely monks enjoyed stunning views over the city and their duchy.
With so much duplicity and double standards displayed by the clergy, the city makes for a perfect vampire lair, as Willow's ancestors – in line with Joss Whedon's blood-sucking character Angel – liked to feast on nuns and monks. Moving with the times, Willow's family are now targeting bankers, lawyers and estate agents as their preferred source of blood; partly because there are far fewer nunneries and monasteries around – and partly because swallowing so much hypocricy gives you wind, even when your stomach's meant to be undead and eternal.
The Marienberg fortress eventually lost in importance and in 1720 a new palace was designed right in the heart of the city. The Residenz Palast is not only one of Germany's finest examples of a Baroque pleasure dome, it is also a UNESCO World Heritage Site, along with many other monuments and buildings along the Romantic Road.
The palace is built largely in a horseshoe design and stands gleaming in gold and white at the eastern edge of the city. It's home to the world's largest fresco, painted by none other than Master Tiepolo and the Hall of Mirrors as well as the Imperial Hall are rather spectacular.
Fortress Marienberg (Photo credit: only_point_five)
My choice for the next creature of the night is a mixed blessing – partly, because Stinkforthshire is nowhere near the sea, but close to a river (Stinkforthshire-upon-Avon) and partly, because the "mermaid" is a mythical beastie that, according to the US National Ocean Service has never existed anywhere other than in seafarers' fevered imagination.
Even Christopher Columbus couldn't resist the temptation of dreaming about mermaids and reported sightings while cruising the Caribbean – if there were any mermaids the infamous Hollywood pirate Captain Jack Sparrow would undoubtedly get entangled with them!
The closest we have to a nocturnal siren is the African manatee, which can live in coastal seas and rivers. It is partly nocturnal, but very poorly studied. The family it belongs to is called the Sirenia and consists of dugong and manatees.
Their family name harks back to ancient Greek mythology, which mentioned sirens or mermaids quite frequently.
English: Wellmich with Maus castle near Sankt Goarshausen. UNESCO World Heritage Site Upper Middle Rhine, Germany. The passenger ship in foreground is the paddle steamer Goethe built in 1913, seen here after the replacement of the steam engine by a Diesel engine. Deutsch: Wellmich bei Sankt Goarshausen mit Burg Maus. UNESCO Welterbe Oberes Mittelrheintal, Deutschland. Das Passagierschiff im Vordergrund ist der 1913 gebaute Raddampfer Goethe nach seiner Umrüstung auf Diesel-Antrieb. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
I'm determined to write a mermaid into Willow's adventures in the future, albeit not in the WIP I'm currently sweating over. Hans Christian Andersen's story The Little Mermaid was one of my favourite stories as a child; as a teenager I became fascinated by the story of Lorelei, the siren that reputedly sat on a rock overlooking the Rhine River, where she lured sailors and fishermen to their doom…more of that and manatees in my next post.
Meanwhile, the only nocturnal creatures Willow and her friends shall encounter in Würzburg will be ghosts and very real monsters of the human kind.
(source of animation: heathersanimations.com; source of photographs Wikipedia)


text:
Category: out of wedlock
40 Percent of US Pregnancies Out of Wedlock, 'Shotgun' Marriages Have Plummeted: Report
Some guy from "Institute of Family Studies" is quoted in this – I think that is the same organization that marriage-idolator and singleness-hater (Link): Bradford Wilcox works for, though I don't see Wilcox himself mentioned in this. (Or maybe Bradford works for a similarly named organization, but not the same one? Hmm.)
One of the women quoted in this article talks about equality of the biological sexes as though equality for both is "bad." She hissingly spit out the phrase "gender equality" as though the concept is terrible. I disagree.
As a celibate chick, I for one want, need, and appreciate gender equality.
My guess is that her outfit is a conservative Christian one that espouses the sexist "Gender Complementarian" view, which, unfortunately, confuses equality for women with being the same thing as "secular liberal feminism," when the two are not necessarily the same thing. (I believe in equality for women, but I am not a liberal feminist.)
The last part of the article mentions that young people today are having sex more often, which is (Link): disputed by other articles I've seen where both liberals and oddly, conservatives, are freaking out because adult singles (young ones) are NOT having sex – they are celibate.
More commentary is below this link with excerpt:
(Link): 40 Percent of US Pregnancies Out of Wedlock, 'Shotgun' Marriages Have Plummeted: Report
A new Senate report is highlighting the effects of unwed childbearing and family breakdown as approximately 40 percent of births in the United States now occur outside of wedlock. And what are known as "shotgun" marriages are largely a thing of the past.
The sharp rise in nonmarital births is a result of a complex mixture of moral, behavioral, and social changes given how the Sexual Revolution overhauled the American landscape, noted Robert VerBruggen, deputy managing editor of National Review, writing on the blog of the Institute for Family Studies Monday. Two out of every five pregnancies in the United States now occur outside of wedlock.
Continue reading "40 Percent of US Pregnancies Out of Wedlock, 'Shotgun' Marriages Have Plummeted: Report"
Author christianpunditPosted on December 21, 2017 December 21, 2017 Categories babies, baby babies, children, fornication - sex outside of marriage, hypocrisy, hypocrite, hypocritical, out of wedlock, premarital sex, premarital sex fornication, singlehood, singleness, singles, social conservatives, UncategorizedLeave a comment on 40 Percent of US Pregnancies Out of Wedlock, 'Shotgun' Marriages Have Plummeted: Report
Abstinence Groups: New Sex-Ed Study Misses Point of Urging Teens to Wait
(Link): Abstinence Groups: New Sex-Ed Study Misses Point of Urging Teens to Wait
By KILEY CROSSLAND
Posted May 11, 2016, 03:30 p.m.
Abstinence advocacy groups say a new (Link): study criticizing virginity pledges misses the point of abstinence education.
The study, "Broken Promises: Abstinence Pledging and Sexual and Reproductive Health," published on the website of the Journal for Marriage and Family, reports that the vast majority of virginity pledgers break their promise to save sex for marriage.
Continue reading "Abstinence Groups: New Sex-Ed Study Misses Point of Urging Teens to Wait"
Author christianpunditPosted on May 11, 2016 August 7, 2016 Categories abortion, abortion and birth control, abstinence, birth control, casual sex, celibacy, celibacy celibate virgin shaming, celibate, celibate and virgin shaming, celibate shaming, chastity, christian, christian material about singleness, christian teachings on dating marriage, christianity, clueless oblivious sex privilege or insensitive or hypocritical left wing feminists, consequences, conservative, conservative right wing, conservatives, dating, diseases, equating sexual purity to repression or deviancy, Expectation, false teaching being virgin or celibate is heroic or impossible, feminism, feminist, feminists, fornication - sex outside of marriage, hook up culture hooking up, left wingers, liberal, liberal christians theology christianity, liberal liberalism, liberal liberals left wing, liberalism, liberals, liberals Democrats, liberals liberal, liberals liberal progressive, liberals liberalism, liberals liberalism progressive, liberals progressive christian, liberals progressives, maturity, modesty and purity teachings, morals, out of wedlock, pregnancy, premarital sex, premarital sex fornication, procreation, progressive christians, progressive liberal christians, progressive progressives liberal liberals, purity culture, secular feminism, secular feminists feminism, secular liberal feminists, self control, sex, sex as an idol, sex ed education, sex ed sexual education, sex education, sexual purity, sexual purity movement, sexual sin, sexually transmitted infections diseases STI STD, sexy sex sexified sexy sexed sexy sexy!, single, singlehood, singleness, singles, stds sti stis sexually transmitted diseases, stereotype lifelong adult celibacy virginity impossible too hard heroic feat, sti std sexually transmitted infection disease, stigma stigmatization, stigma stigmatized, stis stds sexually transmitted diseases infections, study, supposedly impossible unrealistic to stay virgin or celibate, teenagers, teens, teens teenagers, they want your sex, Uncategorized, virgin and celibate shaming, virgin shaming, Virgin Shaming Celibate Celibacy Purity Shaming, virgin shaming celibate shaming, waiting, women like sexLeave a comment on Abstinence Groups: New Sex-Ed Study Misses Point of Urging Teens to Wait
Americans Are Nostalgic for a Family Life That Never Existed by S. Coontz
I have blogged about this book before, back in 2013. You can read the former post (Link): here.
Here is another review of the same book:
(Link): Americans Are Nostalgic for a Family Life That Never Existed
By Stephanie Coontz
There is a tendency for many Americans to view present-day family and gender relations through the foggy lens of nostalgia for a mostly mythical past.
…One example of how discussions of family life are still distorted by myths about the past is the question of how marriage has evolved historically.
Both sides in the Supreme Court decision extending marriage rights to same-sex couples demonstrated confusion on this issue. In his dissent from the majority opinion, Chief Justice John Roberts wrote, "For all . . . millennia, across all . . . civilizations, 'marriage' referred to only one relationship: the union of a man and a woman."
Its primordial purpose, Roberts asserted, was to make sure that all children would be raised "in the stable conditions of a lifelong relationship."
These assertions are simply not true. The most culturally preferred form of marriage in the historical record—indeed, the type of marriage referred to most often in the first five books of the Old Testament—was actually of one man to several women.
Some societies also practiced polyandry, where one woman married several men, and some even sanctioned ghost marriages, where parents married off a son or daughter to the deceased child of another family with whom they wished to establish closer connections.
The most common purpose of marriage in history was not to ensure children had access to both their mother and father but to acquire advantageous in-laws and expand the family labor force.
…In Anglo-American common law, a child born out of wedlock was a filius nullius, a child of nobody, entitled to nothing. Until the early 1970s, several American states denied such children the right to inherit from their biological father even if he had publicly acknowledged them or they were living with him.
Continue reading "Americans Are Nostalgic for a Family Life That Never Existed by S. Coontz"
Author christianpunditPosted on April 16, 2016 April 16, 2016 Categories christian, complementarianism, conservative right wing, conservatives, delayed marriage, discrimination against single unmarried never married christian women, discrimination against singles, family, family is backbone center building block of society culture, family values, familycentric, familycentric family idolatry nuclear family traditional family, fatherhood, fathers, fathers fatherhood, fornication - sex outside of marriage, gender complementarian, gender complementarianism, gender complementarianism., gender roles, greedy marriage marriages, greedy marriages intensive coupling married people ignore friends family, ignore, ignored, making marriage or family into idols, marriage, marriage AS idolatry, marriagecentric, married people couples selfish marriage selfish greedy self absorbed, motherhood, never maried, never married, never married adults, nuclear family, nuclear traditional family, out of wedlock, parent, parenthood, Republican, republican republicans, republicans, sex, sexual purity, sexual sin, single, single moms mother motherhood, single mothers parents, singlehood, singleness, singles, UncategorizedLeave a comment on Americans Are Nostalgic for a Family Life That Never Existed by S. Coontz
Scary Single Ladies: Rebecca Traister Explains Why Single Women Frighten The Hell Out Of The GOP
Sometimes some of these reviews of Traister's book, or interviews with her, bring up how so many Republicans often demonize or criticize single motherhood.
I happen to be a Republican myself, someone who was raised in a traditional Christian home.
One thing I don't get is how so many other Republicans and Christians do in fact constantly bad-mouth single motherhood, but out of the other side of their mouths, they frequently complain that not enough women are having babies.
It ticks these types of Republicans and Christians off that baby-making rates have declined a bit in the last decade or whatever (see this link for example).
So, on the one hand, my fellow Republicans complain about women having babies (women who happen to be single), but then turn around and complain and gripe about women NOT having babies.
Christians and Republicans are somewhat inconsistent on this point. They might argue that women should marry first, and then make a baby with their spouse, but this is part of the problem: plenty of women WANT to marry, but there are no eligible males for them to marry (see this link or this link for more).
And, of course, there are married women who cannot have babies because they are infertile, or some may choose to forgo motherhood – and their choices should be respected, not condemned.
Another thing that bothers me about this conservative demonizing of single motherhood is that I suspect one view that undergirds it is that they believe that marriage or parenthood supposedly makes adults more mature, responsible or godly, which is simply (Link): not true (and see this link and this link).
(There are a lot of conservative Christians who have taught or said that people only become mature or responsible when they marry or have a kid.)
The Bible does not teach that marriage or parenthood are necessary to make a person more godly, loving, responsible, or mature.
And even every day common sense and observation bears that out: we've all known, or heard of, married parents who are immature, greedy, or immoral swine.
I am right wing and have been a Republican for years. However, I don't always agree with Republicans on everything.
I do occasionally agree with some of the left wing's criticism of right wingers, and concerning how dismally right wingers treat singles, I agree with them on that.
The link I give you here is from a left wing site, by Amanda Marcotte, a liberal feminist who is (Link): sometimes hypocritical about women's sexual issues.
Even though I completely disagree with Marcotte on some topics, I did find myself agreeing with some of the content of this interview she had with this book author:
(Link): Scary single ladies: Rebecca Traister explains why single women frighten the hell out of the GOP by Amanda Marcotte
Author Rebecca Traister's new book on single women looks at how this growing population is reshaping America
Author Rebecca Traister's last book, "Big Girls Don't Cry," took a comprehensive look at how the 2008 elections changed everything for American women.
Now she's back with a similarly pop music-themed title, "All the Single Ladies: Unmarried Women and the Rise of an Independent Nation," an examination of the role single women have played in American culture, both in our history and in our current times.
(Link): Single women are a potent political force in a way that they never have been before, making up nearly a quarter of the electorate and leaning to the left of both men and their married counterparts.
This, along with a whole host of inchoate fears about what happens when women are left to their own devices without male supervision, has led to a rash of conservative pundits and politicians denouncing the ladies who aren't married. I interviewed Traister about this moral panic over single women and what it means for the culture at large.
[Question to the book author]: In your book, you detail how obsessed the conservative media has become with single women, who clearly anger right-wing pundits. The most hilarious quote you pull is Rush Limbaugh whining, "What is it with all these young, single, white women?" What is it with these conservative pundits focusing on single women?
It was just a couple of weeks (Link): after his tirade of Sandra Fluke that he made those comments about another woman who had written a book.
The fact that he said "white," well, there are these versions of single womanhood that we are presented and the version that threatens most, is the white, privileged women.
Sandra Fluke testifying in front of Congress, women who are writing books, Murphy Brown, and Anita Hill, even though she's not white, a lawyer appeared for Clarence Thomas.
There is a kind of woman who is economically powerful, professionally powerful who threatens a white male grip on power that has a long historic precedent in the country. Independent women living outside of marriage threaten all kinds of things about the way power is supposed to work.
What if reproduction is taken outside that version of male control? What if women are competing?
Continue reading "Scary Single Ladies: Rebecca Traister Explains Why Single Women Frighten The Hell Out Of The GOP"
Author christianpunditPosted on March 4, 2016 March 6, 2016 Categories abortion and birth control, All the Single Ladies by Rebecca Traister, alone lonely, babies, baby, baby and procreation be fruitful and multiply obsession, baby babies, babymaking obsession, birth control, blame blamed blaming, blame feminism, Blame Feminists Feminism, blame the feminists, blame women, book, book books, book books book review, book review, books, books book, books on singleness, child free, childfree, childless, children, choice, christian, christian marriage fairy tale teaching, christians ignore marginalize exclude ostracize adult singles, complementarianism, conservative, conservatives, culture wars, dating, declining marriage rates, delayed marriage, discrimination against single unmarried never married christian women, discrimination against singles, false teaching, family is backbone center building block of society culture, familycentric, familycentric family idolatry nuclear family traditional family, fatherhood, fathers, fathers fatherhood, feminism, feminist, feminists, fornication - sex outside of marriage, gender comlementarianism, gender complementarian, gender complementarianism, gender complementarianism., gender roles, hypocrisy, hypocrite, hypocritical, if you want it bad enough magical thinking, ignore, ignored, left wingers, liberal, liberal liberalism, liberal liberals left wing, liberalism, liberals, liberals Democrats, liberals liberal, liberals liberal progressive, liberals liberalism, liberals liberalism progressive, liberals progressives, making marriage or family into idols, man shortage, man shortage females outnumber males singles, marriage, marriage AS idolatry, marriagecentric, married people and parents are not godly or mature, married people are not more godly mature ethical responsible than single adults, married people couples marriage crime crimes sins one stop thread, natalaism, natalism, natalism natalist, natalism natalistic, natalism pronatalism, never maried, never married, never married adults, nuclear family, nuclear traditional family, only a the few called gifted to with singleness singlehood celibacy, out of wedlock, parent, parenthood, parenthood supposedly makes people more godly loving mature, parenting parenthood makes people more godly loving mature supposedly, parents and married people are supposedly more godly loving ethical, parents are not more godly mature than childless or childfree, parents are supposedly more godly loving mature than childless childfree, parents who are jerks act like jerks entitled rude demanding, premarital sex, premarital sex fornication, secular feminism, secular feminists feminism, secular liberal feminists, sex, sexual purity, sexual sin, single, single moms mother motherhood, single mothers parents, singlehood, singleness, singles, stereotypes, stigma stigmatization, stigma stigmatized, Uncategorized, unmarried singles stereotype not as mature responsible or sexually pure as married people, unwanted protracted prolonged singlenessTags democrats, discrimination against singles never married women, family idolatry, familycentric, feminism, gender roles, GOP, liberals progressives, making marriage or family into idols, marriage, marriagecentric, politics, republicans, secular feminism, single, single mother motherhood, singleness, social conservative, social conservativesLeave a comment on Scary Single Ladies: Rebecca Traister Explains Why Single Women Frighten The Hell Out Of The GOP
Leaving Christianity gave me the fairy-tale ending I always wanted / Divorce and pre-marital sex destroyed my relationship with Christianity by T. Sheehan
Even though the details of my life and situation are different, I sure did relate to this lady's story.
My eye brow did raise at one or two points of this essay, such as her claim that people at her church encouraged her to get an abortion when she became pregnant out of wedlock, and from the way she discusses her church, they sound pretty conservative and legalistic.
Perhaps she is telling the truth and that really did happen, it's just that most conservative Christians are pro-life, not pro-choice, so I am having a hard time picturing any of them advising a pregnant woman to get an abortion.
With possibly a few wacko Protestant church exceptions, (Link): like this one, where the church's preacher allegedly encouraged the women members to get abortions. But then, of course, there is information such as this: (Link): 2015 Poll: 70% of American Women Who Have Abortions Identify As Christian
By and large, though, most churches are pro-life, not pro-choice.
At one point in this essay, Sheehan says that although she and her male friend were not having sex, that due to being constantly suspected and accused of having sex by Christians at her church, is actually what in large measure drove her and her boyfriend to become sexually active with one another.
Major irony there. Or maybe not…
As I have said time and again at my blog, most Christians, just like secular culture, just blindly assumes that celibacy is impossible for anyone over the age of 25 or so, and that it is impossible for men and women to be platonic friends.
It is entirely possible for men and women to remain friends, and it is entirely possible for an adult to stay celibate for months or years at a time.
I have also explained before, in previous posts, that one reason there is so much fornication among Christian singles is precisely because most Christians have such low expectations: they expect that single adults will, or have, had sex outside of marriage. It becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy quite often.
The couple discussed in this post were expected, assumed to be, and suspected by their fellow congregants of sleeping together; this couple got tired of being falsely accused, so they figured, well, we might as well have sex, since everyone is already assuming we are and harassing us over it.
I also notice that one reason this woman's husband, who was a Christian at one time, but is now an atheist or agnostic, began losing his faith over how miserably his grief (over the death of his father) was mishandled by Christians.
Oh yes, I relate: after my family member's passing a few years ago, rather than receiving love, empathy, and encouragement from Christians in my family or churches I went to, I instead received judgment, criticism, platitudes, or indifference. This in turn is one of several things that caused me to partially leave the Christian faith.
One of a few things that caused Sheehan to leave the faith is over how one church she attended mishandled her abusive marriage – her priest told her to stay with the abusive husband.
This advice is also usually given in Baptist or Protestant situations. Christians often put keeping an (abusive) marriage before the welfare of the two persons who comprise the marriage.
Abused wives are usually instructed to stay with the abusive spouse and submit to the abuser more, or just pray about things. None of this resolves the situation but actually prolongs it.
I am not surprised in light of all the insensitive treatment that she and her husband endured at the hands of other believers, that they both developed major doubts about Christianity and walked away from it.
There were a few supportive comments to the woman who wrote this, in the comments area under the essay, but there were also a lot of hateful, judgmental, or naive posts left to her by Christians.
There were also a few annoying posts by atheists who were just there to say "all religion is idiotic, there is no God" to any of the well-meaning, yet naive Christians who were telling her to hold on to the faith, in spite of the Christians who had been mean to her at her prior churches.
Honestly, I wish those types of atheists would refrain from posting under articles like this one by Sheehan. I find their opportunistic, anti-theism drivel and rants to be about as bad as the nasty posts by the Christians who scolded Sheehan for leaving Christianity.
(Link): Leaving Christianity gave me the fairy-tale ending I always wanted
Divorce and pre-marital sex destroyed my relationship with Christianity by T. Sheehan
My family has always been part of the Catholic Church, including being actively involved in fighting for those beliefs in Ireland and France through the centuries. It is all I knew and I never imagined a life without it. Even in today's permissive society, divorce is still a huge don't in the Catholic Church.
When my priest advised me to stay in an abusive marriage rather than lose access to the Catholic religion, I stayed — until my husband left me for one of the many women he had been seeing.
I went back to my priest for help but instead found myself without a church.
Confused and directionless, I ended up seeking help at a Word of Faith Christian Church in Texas.
Although the church and I both believed in Jesus, the similarities ended there. Everything was so different from what I had grown up with, it made the transition very difficult.
They kept trying to break down my identity by using scripture to suggest that everything about me, from Catholicism to my Irish culture, was evil and against God. It was like going through spiritual boot camp as they attempted to rebuild me into a person that could gain access to heaven.
During my time there, I met my current husband. He was also having a tough time as his father had died suddenly the year before, causing him to question the church he had been raised in and even the existence of God due to how they handled his grief.
We became really good friends who spent hours talking as we each struggled with our sheltered worlds collapsing around us, no matter how hard we tried to fight to keep the walls intact.
The damage in our lives, caused by blind devotion to a religion, forced us to question all the truths we had been raised to believe.
Continue reading "Leaving Christianity gave me the fairy-tale ending I always wanted / Divorce and pre-marital sex destroyed my relationship with Christianity by T. Sheehan"
Author christianpunditPosted on January 30, 2016 June 4, 2016 Categories abortion, abortion and birth control, abstinence, agnostic, agnostic agnosticism, agnostic angosticism, agnosticism, agnosticism agnostic, atheism, Atheism Atheist Atheists, atheist, atheist atheism, atheist atheism atheists, atheist atheists atheism, babies, baby, baby babies, celibacy, celibate, chastity, children, christian, christian marriage fairy tale teaching, christian material about singleness, Christian propaganda, christian teachings on dating marriage, christian women are visual too and like hot looking men, christianity, Christians Say They Support Virginity Sexual Purity Celibacy But Really Do Not, church, Church Quitters Leavers, conservative, conservative right wing, conservatives, control freaks, dating, dechurched, discrimination against singles, doctrine beliefs, domestic abuse, domestic abuse spousal abuse violence, domestic abuse violence spousal abuse, domestic spousal abuse violence, domestic violence, domestic violence abuse, domestic violence spousal abuse, domestic violence spouse abuse, dones, doubt, doubt doubting, ex Christian Christians, Expectation, faith, faith crisis, fathers fatherhood, fornication - sex outside of marriage, friends, friends friendship, friendship, friendships friendship, grief, grief grieving, grief mourning, grief mourning greiving, grieving, insensitive, judgmental, legalism, Legalism Legalistic Law Pharisaic, marriage, motherhood, mourning, mourning grief death loss, nones, nones dones, obnoxious, out of wedlock, parenthood, pastors, platitudes, preacher preachers preaching, premarital sex, premarital sex fornication, problem of suffering, prosperity gospel, protestant, Protestant Baptist, Roman Cahtolicism, Roman Catholic, Roman Catholic Catholicism, Roman Catholicism, Roman Catholicism Catholic, sex, sexual sin, single, singlehood, singleness, singles, stereotypes, supposedly impossible unrealistic to stay virgin or celibate, the dones, the nones, Uncategorized, unmarried singles stereotype not as mature responsible or sexually pure as married people, women like and want sex too, women like sex, Word of Faith Prosperity GospelTags abortion, Agnostic Agnosticism, atheist, atheist atheism, celibacy, celibate, Christian, Christianity, church, church quitters leavers, death, dones, ExChristian, fornication premarital sex, fornication sex before marriage, grief, marriage, mourning, nones, problem of evil, quitting church, singleness, virgin, virginityLeave a comment on Leaving Christianity gave me the fairy-tale ending I always wanted / Divorce and pre-marital sex destroyed my relationship with Christianity by T. Sheehan
Abstinence Advocate Bristol Palin Announces Second Unplanned Pregnancy
I am of two minds of this, concerning aspects of the story.
I'm pro-life and think it's good she's not aborting the baby, and yes, the people at Gawker were a_holes for saying Palin's pregnancy is an argument in favor of abortion.
On the other hand, some of these sites are saying Palin is a spokesperson for an abstinence program, but this is her second child out of wedlock.
I do think there is something a little hypocritical about someone who is promoting sexual abstinence but who is having children outside of marriage.
I also continue to wonder why abstinence programs and churches keep asking fornicators to act as spokespersons to market celibacy, rather than asking honest- to- God celibates to perform this function?
(Link): Abstinence Advocate Bristol Palin Announces Second Unplanned Pregnancy
by BY KIA MAKARECHI
Bristol Palin, the daughter of former Alaska governor Sarah Palin, announced on Thursday that she was pregnant with her second child out of wedlock.
"I wanted you guys to be the first to know that I am pregnant," Palin wrote on her blog. "Honestly, I've been trying my hardest to keep my chin up on this one."
The news comes just one month after Palin suddenly called off her wedding to Medal of Honor recipient Dakota Meyer, which had been scheduled for May 23. Palin did not comment on the identity of the father in her blog post.
Palin announced that she was pregnant with her first child,Tripp Palin, during her mother's campaign for the vice-presidency. Palin was 17 at the time. She was twice engaged to Tripp's father, Levi Johnston, but both engagements were broken off. (Johnston married a different woman in 2012.)
"I know this has been, and will be, a huge disappointment to my family, to my close friends, and to many of you," she wrote on Thursday. "But please respect Tripp's and my privacy during this time. I do not want any lectures and I do not want any sympathy."
Since her first pregnancy, Palin has made a career out of campaigning for abstinence. In 2011, it was (Link): widely reported that she was paid $262,500 from the Candie's Foundation, a non-profit organization that fights teen pregnancy by supporting abstinence work. Palin is also (Link): listed as an expert on abstinence on the Web site of Single Source Speakers, a booking agency.
Palin's message, however, has been inconsistent. In a February 2009 interview with Fox's Greta Van Susteren,she said that while she's pro-abstinence, she takes a more realistic view. "I think abstinence is, like—like, the—I don't know how to put it—like, the main—everyone should be abstinent or whatever, but it's not realistic at all," she said, (Link): according to a transcript of the interview.
Three months later, she (Link): had sharpened her message: "Regardless of what I did personally, I just think that abstinence is the only . . . 100 percent foolproof way to prevent pregnancy."
(Link): Foundation that paid Bristol Palin $250,000 to promote abstinence after birth of son Tripp offers SUPPORT after news she is expecting another child
The Candie's Foundation offered 'support' to Bristol Palin following her announcement that she was pregnant with her second child
Palin was an ambassador for the non-profit in 2010, which is focused of educating and preventing teen pregnancy
Palin, who had just given birth to son Tripp a few years prior, was paid $262,500 for her work with the foundation
No one in the Palin family has commented on the new pregnancy, and the father of the child is unknown
(Link): Pregnant Abstinence Queen Bristol Palin Made $262K Preaching Abstinence: Baby's Dad Is Dakota
Ironically, the former teen mom was previously an abstinence ambassador for the Candie's Foundation, which had hired Bristol in 2009 to promote abstinence before marriage as part of a campaign to prevent teenage pregnancy.
Amazingly, Bristol was paid $262,500 for her 2009 abstinence speaking tour, Examiner reported. During her speeches, Palin urged teenage girls to not have premarital sex (like she did).
"I'm not going to have sex until I'm married. I can guarantee it," Bristol vowed in 2009.
(Link): How Much Money Did Bristol Palin Earn From Abstinence Speeches? Sarah Palin's Daughter Is Pregnant, Again
by Maria Vultaggio on June 26 2015 1:36 PM EDT
After she became a teenage mother in 2008, Bristol Palin vowed that she would not have sex again until she was married. She went on to become an abstinence advocate and made hundreds of thousands of dollars preaching to girls about not having premarital sex.
In 2011, when she was 20, Palin made $262,000 as an abstinence ambassador for The Candie's Foundation, the Associated Press reported, citing tax documents. A total amount earned over the years has not been revealed.
Continue reading "Abstinence Advocate Bristol Palin Announces Second Unplanned Pregnancy"
Author christianpunditPosted on June 28, 2015 June 28, 2015 Categories abortion, abstinence, Bristol Palin, celibacy, celibate, children, christian, christianity, familycentric, fornication - sex outside of marriage, greed, hypocri, hypocrisy, kids, natalism, out of wedlock, sexual sin, single
Stacie Tchividjian Attempting to Turn Repeated Sexual Sin Into a Virtue of Sorts

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