Mariposa's Musings

Tagline: “At long last a motion picture with absolutely no cultural value” This theatrical feature is brought to you by Rankin/Bass, best known for their children’s holiday specials.   While intended for a young audience, MMP is no Rudolph the Rednosed Reindeer, opening with an atomic blast and punctuated with adult humor. The movie features the voice talents of Boris Karloff (Mad Scientist, Boris von Frankenstein) and Phyllis Diller (the monster’s mate). Having invented a potion of ultimate destruction, Baron Boris von Frankenstein invites all the monsters to a party on the Isle of Evil to celebrate his achievement.   The guest list is an impressive line-up of classic movie monsters including the Wolfman, the Mummy, the Invisible Man and Dracula.      He confides to his voluptuous assistant, Francesca his plans to retire and leave the business to his nephew, Felix Franken.   Francesca wants to take over evil empire herself and plots to g...

Tell me about yourself.   How long have you been writing? My name is Jamie Leigh Hansen and I’ve been writing professionally for 16 years. Wow. Time really does fly. J I have always loved reading and, while growing up, I was rarely without a book in hand. Writing stories for class projects was fun, I loved making up these huge dramatic and emotional stories. As a career, I didn’t get serious until I joined Romance Writers of America. Every day since is a measure of how much can I learn about this art and this business before my brain explodes? My love of paranormal stories has evolved since watching Kindred and then Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Shifters, in particular, I became fascinated with when reading Laurell K. Hamilton’s Anita Blake series and Christine Feehan’s Carpathian series. I hadn’t considered writing them until The Murder King’s Woman. Where did the inspiration for this story come from? Trisha Telep approached me to write a short story for The Mammot...

Tell me about yourself.   How long have you been writing? My name is Melissa Snark, which is actually a pen name, chosen to provide my poor family with a degree of privacy. For a kid, it is tough enough not wanting to be seen with your uncool mom. In real life, I'm mouthy and sarcastic. Throw in the fact that I write erotica and chronicle the adventures of the Snark family on my blog, and I'm nightmare mom. My family is hysterical—three kids, four if you count Mr. Snark, and three cats. We're somewhere on the spectrum between Family Circus and Married With Children . Something is always going on. For instance, during my shower this morning my two-year-old daughter used her unsupervised break as an opportunity to unwind an entire roll of toilet paper. Then, as if that wasn't enough, she shredded some of it. It was everywhere—kitchen, office, on the stairs. You'd think she was a cat. Anyway, back to writing. I've been writing since I was a kid. I th...

What inspires your stories? You know that is the one question I dread answering as an author. Ask me on my characters, stories, upcoming attractions but ask me what inspires something and I am at a loss. Well I take that back…not exactly a loss but it is hard for me to get the right words to explain what inspires me. Everything inspires me…a news article, passing snatch of a song on a radio, heck something that may have happened in my life. All is up for fodder for ideas and yes, I do use creative license to make them a tad bit more interesting *grins*. I think writing a new story is like making a new recipe. You have a dash of this, a dash of that…stir it all up and add in some yummy bits to make something so decadent, you want more. For my Devon Falls series, I used a combination of my home town and my former places of employment to create the town of paranormals. Each time I wrote a Devon Falls book, it grew and more characters popped up to clamor for a story. For example, my ...

I'm visiting Karen Michelle Nutt's blog today chatting about that horror classic, The Wolf Man . Hope to see you there!

As a mother of two, I get enough teen drama without watching it on the small screen. While my daughter, a devotee fan of teenage serial drama, claims she is not keen on the supernatural. However, when MTV’s Teen Wolf is on, we grab the popcorn and head straight for the couch. The MTV series has a darker, edgier tone than the 1985 Michael J. Fox movie According to director, Russell Mulcahy , the mantra during filming revolved around 3 s-words “scary, sexy and surprising”. As if the daily trauma of high school wasn’t enough, Scott McCall, has to contend with the savage inclinations of his beastly self. Complicating matters is the fact his beloved Allison’s father is a hunter sworn to kill werewolves and his fellow werewolf and mentor, Derek Hale, is glowering loner driven to avenge his family (though I admit I wouldn’t mind basking in his smoldering glare). While cloaked with the mysterious aura of the paranormal, the actions of the characters are realis...

I'm visiting Jennifer Jakes ' blog today. Hope to see you there!

I'm chatting about Howl today at Romance Under Moonlight . Don't you love that title? Steph Burkhart was a guest on Saturday Shifters last week and she graciously invited me to visit her blog. Hope to see you there!

MARIPOSA: I'd like to welcome author Stephanie Burkhart to the blog. Tell me a little about yourself. How long have you been writing? STEPH: Thanks for having me here today, Mariposa. Growing up I was a young girl in the 1970's hooked on the Electric Company. Nothing beat visiting my grandmother's house in the spring and hanging out with the lilacs. I grew up in New Hampshire and when I turned 18 I decided I wanted a great adventure and joined the Army. I served a total of 11 years and 7 in Germany with the Military Police. Now, I'm settled in California with my husband of 19 years and I've been a 911 dispatcher for LAPD for 11 years. I got into seriously writing when I left the military in 1997. My first book, written under my pen name SG Cardin, was called "Destination: Berlin. It was set in Germany in 1988 and is a sweet romance. It's been well received, but lacks sales I think because the setting has a military backdrop. That was in 2001. I worked...