Dracula

Ever since the Twilight craze, I have stayed away from anything vampire related. I just couldn't stomach them any more. I've seen everything. Plain human falls in love with vampire. Vampire falls in love with plain human for no apparent reason. Vampire in high school for no apparent reason.

 

Imagine my delight when I saw the trailer for NBC's new series, coming this week on Friday the 28, at 10. It just looks amazing. It's about Dracula. The classic vampire that started the obsession in the first place. Also, this is Bram Stoker, so, no sparkling guaranteed. I may return to my love of vampires just yet. Here's the trailer:

 





Personal blog

Hello weiserites past-and-present

Here is a link to my personal blog, if it interests ya. I also have a author page on Facebook under 'Maggie bàra'. Give it a like and a hug is in order.

But anyway, here's the link:

Http://www.badchemical.blogspot.com

Enjoy or not. Love to all

Xoxo
Mags

Submissions

Hello all,

I am editor for an underground rag that's looking for great stories. Please submit something or send it along to anyone you might know who wants to get their writing out there! The actual website is hidden for now until we get some good stuff up there.

feed me & follow me

into the satirical underground. 

we want your gritty, your heavy, your stories seeped in black humor. 

do not send more than 6k words because, really, we've no time for ramblers. 

we're starved for the trampled, unpublished, the sharp. 

there's room yet in the rabbit hole. 

send your best to:

whiterabbitrunningsubmissions@gmail.com

mad company awaits.

Forty-Eight

I know where you are going,
but yet I know not where you are,

there is no way of knowing,

at times it feels like you are among the distant stars.

 

You will return,

I know I shouldn't be so blue,

but in turn,

I cannot help but think of you.

 

With you is my heart,

my eternal love,

you have gone to see your start,

and that is what I must think of.

 

It won't be long now,

just a clock unwinding until forty-eight,

one cursorily glance and I shall be filled with wow,

when I look upon you on said date.

 

The clouds will part and all will be right,

you may think me mad for perfection by one sight,

but yet I swear to you nothing will be amiss,

once I lay upon you a passionate kiss.

If I have been a bit of a ghost I sincerely apologize, the time has passed me by far faster than I had anticipated with college starting; however, I thought it was about time I write something to show that the love of the written word still is instilled within me.

All There Is of Me

Was I all you every wanted in the end?
A causal friend
   A girl that you thought of
       A shoulder to cry on
          A pretty picture

I was them all was I not?
That friend
       That thought
           That shoulder
              That pretty picture,
Of everything we used to have
And bring to the table at Christmas dinner

Is everything as you wanted?
A new beginning
    An opportunity,
I pray to God it is
If you are happy

Is this where we end now?
   The 'What if'
       The 'Maybe'
          The 'Could have been'
I feel...a fool, not to have tried
Harder,
Still...who was I?
     A forgetful friend
        Another girl
           A wet shoulder
              A yellowed picture
That you moved forward from,
And I will forever hold my peace

Just to make you...happy

Spellbound by Cara Shultz Review: Spoilers

I don’t know what I was expecting when I picked up this book. A miracle maybe? Something to pick me up after reading Unearthly, in retrospect I don’t know why in the world I expected something good from a book that, and quote “has the potential to do for witches what Stephanie Meyers did for vampires”.  Apparently, my definition of good potential must be centuries off because I say this:

But, I was willing to give this book a shadow of a doubt. Emma moves in with her aunt Charlotte after her drunken dad nearly kills both of them in a car accident. Her mother is dead and her twin brother, such a tragic past. Of course, her aunt is rich and sends her off to one of the most expensive boarding schools in the city that never sleeps. New York. It is there she meets her reincarnated love interest Brendan. Of course, (gasp) there love is cursed.

Don’t get me wrong the beginning gave me hope. Emma is actually a likeable character. I was starting to look up….until she enters the school. Stereotype roll call:

 Blond Wannabe mean girl and her minions that hates the protagonist on the spot.  Kaitlin and the backgrounds.

Dump jock-that-thinks he is God’s gift to the world-and sleeps with everyone because he can, Anthony.

 Hot, perfect, male lead that exists to solely be the love interest that the protagonist obsesses over, Brendan.

Last but not least, the walking-Wikipedia. Angelique is the outcast and a powerful witch, (though we never see her powers in serious action). She provides Emma with the knowledge about the story of Lord Archer. Lord Archer falls in love with a poor maiden his family disapproves of. He goes on and marries her regardless. She of course dies, murdered by assassins. Archer, love-stricken, is tricked into cursing both their souls…

By asking some witch to cast a spell so he can meet her in the next life. To break the spell it takes a ‘selfless soul’. I wonder who that is supposed to be. coughBrendancough. Now, question? Where was the witch who casted the spell on them? Shouldn’t he be preventing them from breaking the spell? Why couldn't he live for a long time? It would have made the story more interesting and provided more conflict.

Of course regardless of this Emma just can’t stay away from Brendan. Stuff happens, they end up dating. We all know how this story ends. They all live happily ever after because Brendan saves Emma from Anthony.  Anthony teams up with the wannabe mean girl in attempt to shove her off a cliff after getting him kicked out of school. How? Emma wanted him to admit his lie about sleeping with her cousin to the school. This last bit would have been interesting if I wasn’t to the point of not caring that I skimmed those pages. Overall two stars because Emma stands up for she cousin and the beginning.                                                                                                                                                                                                           

Next to Godliness

Hey!

I thought I'd throw something out for people to read, feeling bad since I haven't done anything yet. I am trying to get as many publications as possible, and unfortunately a lot of publications don't allow second-time runs. But I can post already published stuff! This piece was published on Thickjam and I suggest other writers to submit there because it's a frequent and fast-responding publication.

Here's the site in case anyone would like to check it out.
http://thickjam.com/

It's titled 'Next To Godliness'. Enjoy!

xoxo Maggie

At the age of 19 I am on death row and want the injection so badly it hurts to not have the needle in my arm. For six months I waited for a verdict, handcuffs leaving rings around my wrists. But finally, here I am, just waiting for the trash truck to stop by, take me away, burn me up to nothing. I feel like a fifth wall, standing in meaningless silence, in vigilance for nothing.

My ex-boyfriend, he wants me dead. He’d planned on calling her Jasmine Rae- the baby girl that wasn’t his to have. I’d already be hung or shot or fried had he gotten the chance and choice. It’s funny how only true love can turn into true disgust and animosity.

But my parents are the ones who had to pull the plug or let me rot. Either way my life is done, whether I get a shot in the arm or a spot in the dark. I am a sentence strung and written only to be erased, a mistake if there ever was one. But the difference is that I won’t even leave the little rubber shavings to show I was at all.

Who knew people were easier to take back that the wrong words said or bygone regrets. Pain can’t be rescinded, but a soul sure can.

I never told anyone, but she was always Lilli to me. From the moment I found out to the last second she was mine, I called my baby Lilli Anne. But it’s a shame I was in bed the whole time I knew her. I was sick with nausea and her kicking my ribs, but I was paralyzed with thoughts of the life she’d never have; the life that I couldn’t give her. So I gave her back to someone I felt I could trust. On October 20^th I got the abortion.

I knew perfectly well that under new legislation abortion is legally classified as murder. So when my ex found out that his Jasmine was no more, he turned me in and pushed me away. Now I’m only garbage to him. Believe me these last months I’ve only wanted to be with Lilli anyway; away, far away, invisible.

And within the laws around homicide, only the biological mother and father can decide whether or not their child is given the death sentence. They brought you into this world, only they can take you out. Physical presence is determinable by flesh and blood, though whether you went to Heaven or Hell was sorted out elsewhere.

To my mom and dad, she was Amelia Jane. They were supposed to go to the park, dress her in tiny hats and shoes and play ‘This Little Piggie’. I became the monster in the closet the minute I took that away from them. After six months of indecision I was found guilty of murder and sentenced to death by lethal injection. The world is about to be back in balance, so long as I am easily forgotten.

But here I am, a trash bag full of bones waiting in the dark to incinerate or be broken down.  Everyone’s promised a hundred times that there’s Hell flames set-aside especially for me; I think I believe them. Today, I tell myself, is the day the Garbage man in the Sky comes by to toss me out. Recycle my skin so that all the battered plastic pieces will melt back into something almost as beautiful as glass. I could give it another go, if he’d let me. If you’d have me.

It’s like Lilli and I never even were. Stars that died before their light ever reached a waiting sky. Hushed, hushed, never hollow as we shine.

Research and Writer’s Guilt: Part one

            It’s been a while since my last article and I decided to change that. I will do a series of posts covering research, which can be the most fun part of your writing phrase. It does not matter what type of book you are writing Sy-fy, fantasy, or paranormal. Every writer must do research especially if it is historical fiction. It is not debatable. Then of course we will talk about writer’s guilt. We have all must have experienced writer’s guilt at one time or another if you have been writing long enough. 

Research:

           A lot of people will say “it’s just fiction, don’t take it seriously”. Although it is a matter of opinion this is not true. Fiction is based off of reality so that we can gain a better understanding of the world around us, and maybe some insight into ourselves, the human race. It also allows us to feel deeply and sympathize with our main characters. Anyone who says “it’s just fiction, don’t take it seriously” or “it’s just a book”. In my opinion they just have not found that one book they truly love yet. Due to the fact that fiction is based off of reality research must be done. Whether it is making up your own fantasy world or looking into a certain time period. Research can help you come up with ideas to put in your story and separate it from being ‘generic’ or ‘done before’. 

The Bright Side of Death

I just came up with a an opening for a story that I have been thinking about. It was a line in a poem of mine, but I decided to use it in a story. This is what I have so far. Should I change it? Tell me what you think:

Everyone was shocked when I died. I guess they thought that I would make some sort of noise when I went. A gasp, a cry, a whimper or at least left them some foot prints in the snow to follow, something. Yet,  I didn't do no such thing. So this was how I ended, fighting, but not making a sound.

Here's a short poem I came up with....

Will there be no end?
Have I came to a complete stop?
Is there an answer to the masses latest trend?
Will my heart be the first thing to drop?

I was here long ago and I knew it well,
there were workers aplenty and they lived in peace,
there was never an inkling of grievance or a want to rebel,
every last one of them longed to spend forty a week in a bath of grease.

On came the cries on high like that of an angel on standby,
Relief? Release? anything but what had been.
They made it seem as if they would die.
Had the lot of them received the suffrage of that most gluttonous sin?

What be that most glorious sound?
Have they finally come back to meet me and accept my plea?
Nay, of course not a sound is to be found.
And my tale shall end with nary an ounce of glee.

Starting the show

Since no one's written yet, I guess I will take the honor and share a poem. It is relatively the same.  Nothing has been changed:

Neverland

Is this it?
Has the last song
Been sung?
Has the last soldier
Been killed?

Has the roaring twenties
Ran its course?
Is there really
A beginning to an end?

Why does there have to
Be an end?
Can't it just go on
Like show biz?

Can't all the ages
Melt together to form
A perfect mold?

Fitting beautifully in our hands?

Just Getting Started

All right, guys, you asked for it and here it is:  The Official (and only, I might add) Conrad Weiser Writers Guild Alumni Society Blog!  Use it to share your newest work, help other writers along a difficult path, chat about anything that's on your mind, or silently spy on what everyone else is doing!

Because this is the first web log I've created, I'm not completely sure about how things will work or about the best way to set it up.  Right now, I have it set to public view, but only members will be able to contribute.

Here's a question, though:  Should everything appear on the main page, or should I create a page for each author?  Another option, I suppose, would be to create separate pages by genre, such as poetry, short fiction, nonfiction, novel excerpts, and discussion.

If you have an idea, just let me know.