Welcome to the Labor Day Blog Tour! In case you just arrived, the tour bus link can be found at  http://booknibbles.com/blogtour.  I have some of my favorite  sexy rock n’ rollers to share with you below.

Please note, you do not have to comment on my blog to win a prize but those who do comment will be entered to win a prize pack from me that includes a signed postcard, vampire bite tattoo and other goodies. If you comment, tell me in your comment who your favorite rockstar is and why. Happy Labor Day!

Slash  (Guns N’ Roses)

Joan Jett (The Runaways & Joan Jett and the Blackhearts)

Synyster Gates (Avenged Sevenfold)

Brody Dalle (The Distillers &  Spinnerette)

Nikki Sixx (Motley Crue)

Enjoy the rest of the tour!

Ten random facts about me.

1. My nickname in my family to this day is Morticia, due to my Goth days way back when. And I seriously hate that damn nickname. Because I hate the Addams family.

2. My dream car is the General Lee.

3. I’ve had my hair every colour of the rainbow over the years.

4. I prefer Pepsi but the fizz in Coke seems to last longer. So when forced to choose, I go with Coke.

5. My Alexa O’Brien Huntress series is set in my real town and features only a few fictional landmarks.

6. I have only 2 things in my wardrobe that are not black.

7. I thought Kristen Stewart was much better in The Runaways than she is in the Twilight movies.

8. I cry really easy over silly shit like sappy commercials or songs.

9. My car’s name is Delilah. 

10.  I have at least half a dozen books I’ve started to read but haven’t finished.

In my Alexa O’Brien Huntress series, I use plenty of energy manipulation. It is a dominant feature in this series. From fight scenes to sensual scenes, it plays a large role in Alexa’s world. So I thought I’d share a little more about it.

This is a pretty in depth subject so I’m just going to scratch the surface. The entire universe is made up of energy and everything that we do on a daily basis involves the give and take of energy in some way or another. In my books I use energy as a powerful weapon in most cases. It also appears as a way to draw people together and influence their actions. The average person doesn’t really pay close attention to the way energy is working around them all the time or to the fact that pretty much anyone can conduct and manipulate it.

Those who practice magic or witchcraft are always tapping the energy around them as part of their spell crafting. I do not practice magic. But I do pay attention to the neat ways energy works. Want to feel it? Try this:

Get comfortable and relaxed. Rub your hands together for 10-20 seconds. Then stop and hold your hands a few inches apart. You should be able to feel the vibrations. If not, try pressing your fingertips close together but don’t quite let them touch. You should be able to feel a resistance, almost like two magnets pushing against each other. That is the energy flowing between your hands. With great practice, this energy can be formed into a psi ball and some say from there it can be directed into a specific purpose.

Energy can be drawn from the earth with careful concentration. It can also be returned to the earth. There are those that use energy in a healing form, like with Reiki. Likewise, it could be used to harm. I have used it in many ways in my books. You can find a short energy lesson here at http://ariannasmoon.tripod.com/class/lesson7.html.

This topic is huge. From tantric/sex energy to healing to positive and negative and so on.  So I’m going to cut it short for now. It can also tie into another fun topic: psychic vampires. That is something I’ll blog on in the near future as well.

Not long ago I blogged on the vampire rules and my own personal rules. Since werewolves also play a large role in my work, I’m going to focus this post on my werewolf rules. Since all authors and folk lore have variations of the rules, these are mine but I invite you to comment with your own or your opinion of them.

Immortality. My werewolves are not immortal in the same sense that a vampire is. They are very much alive with beating hearts and are as mortal as any human. However, they do have advantages other mortal creatures do not have. They live longer than the average human, much longer. They also have incredible strength and the ability to heal very fast.

Full moons. In my fiction, the three days of the full moon– the day before, the day of and the day after—increase the appetites, desire and strength of the werewolf. But the full moon doesn’t control when they shift forms. My werewolves can shift forms at any time they choose though intense emotions can encourage the need to change or the hunger to hunt and kill.

Silver Bullets. There isn’t any one weapon or specific item that can harm a werewolf in my world. Anything that can hurt a human can hurt a werewolf. Of course, it takes much more to kill them and most people would never have the chance to try it before they were ripped to shreds.

Becoming. In my world the only way to become a werewolf is through infection which usually takes place during an attack. Most people attacked by a werewolf never live long enough to become one. But there are a precious few that do.

The Wolfman. I’ve read several books and seen movies where the werewolf becomes a half man and half beast creature instead of an actual wolf. That is actually pretty gross to me. My werewolves go from human to a real wolf. No weird wolfman creatures here. However, my werewolves can and do get claws and fangs while in human form. It’s pretty bad ass. But that’s as far as it goes without a full shift.

Reproduction. My werewolves are generally sterile after the change takes place. Yet like anything, there are those rare exceptions where nature throws a curve ball and either a hybrid is produced or a full blooded Were.

I’m sure there are more “rules” out there that I’m forgetting. Feel free to mention them or mention some of your own.

Welcome to my blog! I’m Canadian and Canada Day is July 1st so you’ll find some hot US and Canadian pics on my blog. Hope you enjoy!

The tour got started over at http://booknibbles.com/blogtour/ so head over there if you’re just joining in now. At the end of the tour you will be able to enter to win and there are several kick ass prizes to be won.

You don’t need to comment here in my blog to win a prize but if you do comment you will be entered to win a signed postcard and a vampire bite tattoo from me.

 Happy Canada Day and Happy 4th of July!!

The vampire rules as we know them tend to vary by author. And hey, part of the beauty of being an author is being able to create your own world and your own rules. When it comes to vampires, the rules have been bent and altered considerably. I have my own rules and stick to them. I don’t change them from one vampire book to another.

Sunlight: It’s a no-no. There is no walking in the daylight for my vampires. If they walk in the sun, they can kiss their undead asses goodbye. Of course, there are some authors that do have day walking vamps or those that can go in the sun with a special ring ala Stefan and Damon. But no, I follow most of the classic vampire rules. And that means no sunlight.

Human food: Not in my world. I see many shows and books that portray vampires as being able to eat human food. I don’t think so. They have passed through human death and are now reliant on blood to survive. Therefore, how would a dead digestive system process human food? I can accept it when watching something like Buffy and Spike is chowing down on chicken wings but in my world, the only food for my vampires is the humans.

Coffins: I like the coffin dwelling vampires of most classic tales. I can’t imagine a horror genre vampire sleeping anywhere else. However, in my urban fantasy and romance, my vampires sleep in beds. To me it’s a little more realistic to sleep in a big cozy bed with fluffy blankets in a room safely sealed off from the sun. And it makes love scenes go a lot smoother.

Stakes: A stake in the heart will kill any vampire I write. Of course fire and beheading will too but there is something about the stake that I like. A good stabbing anywhere else though is just a painful inconvenience. It’s not enough to kill.

Garlic: This is one classic vampire rule that I do not use. It’s just too silly for me. It’s pretty much the same as using wolfsbane against werewolves (which I also do not use in my books) and I can appreciate it’s use when reading other people’s work but in mine, these types of items are absent.

Shapeshifting: My vampires do not shapeshift. Most vampires I’ve read over the past ten years don’t. And I like it that way. They die in one body and that’s the body they wear indefinitely. No turning into a bat or a wolf. Not in my world.

Crosses: This is another rule that I enjoy in horror but I don’t use in my fiction. I prefer my vampires to be able to walk right into a church or touch a cross without any effect. Being burned by a cross is something that indicated a vampire is evil or has no soul. My vampires are pretty damn evil but they have souls. The no soul thing got really sticky with Buffy’s Angel and Spike and though it worked for that world, it doesn’t work for mine.

So, have I missed anything? What rules do you believe are a must in vampire fiction? And what rules can you live without? Feedback is appreciated.

This is something every author has to deal with at some point, especially in a series. When do you decide to kill off a character? And why? And also, how do you justify it to the reader? As both an author and a reader, I have been saddened and/or disappointed by the death of a character. I have also welcomed it in some cases.

One of my books (I won’t say which b/c I don’t want to spoil for future readers) felt like something was missing while I was writing it. Then it came to me. A certain character had to die for it all to come together. So I scrapped a large chunk of the book and began rewriting to make it work. When the time came for the axe to fall on that particular character, it was really hard to let it happen. I felt like I didn’t want to watch even though I was the one allowing it.

I had formed a personal attachment to the character that had been a form therapy for me, letting me get out some personal stuff in a fictional way. Killing them was like closing a door. Or so I thought. I won’t elaborate but that character has since haunted me. Of course I have killed others and never looked back.

As a reader I have literally cried over the death of certain characters. And I’m sure I’m not the only one. Sometimes I see no clear reason for it and other times it’s crystal clear. Again I’m using Buffy as an example even though it’s a show, not a book. Joss Whedon was never above killing off a character. He seemed to thrive on the pain it caused us solely because it held meaning. I could be wrong but that’s how I interpreted it. He took away Angel, Spike, Anya, Tara, Buffy herself and Buffy’s mom, to name a few (even though some of them came back).

So readers and authors, tell me how you feel about character death. Can you accept it when there is a just reason? Or do you feel those you love should never depart the fictional worlds they live in? And if you kill your characters, those you love and cherish, why?