Farish's Freehold: Claudette Melanson has vampire tales to share; news on The Vampire of Rome

Progress on The Vampire of Rome (Inquisitor Series #4) continues, I am over 35k, which length-wise is half way for a normal size book from me, however, the story is developing a bit differently, so I may be closer to one third than half way. If that is the case, we may be looking at a 90K length novel. Don't worry there will be the usual action, blood, and mayhem. And if you're worried that this is another lovelorn Vampire novel, never fear; they are depicted as the monsters they are.

As I am busy plotting havoc, the talented and multi-award winning Claudette Melanson has stepped into the breech to give us the low down on her novel, Rising Tide.

Amazon- http://goo.gl/SPmOG0

Could Maura's life get any worse? ...turns out it most certainly can.

Isolated and sheltered by her lonely mother, Maura's never been able to make friends. She seems to drive her classmates away—except for the odd times they pay enough attention to torture her—but she doesn’t understand why. Maura considers herself to be a freak of nature, with her unusually pale skin and an aversion to the sun that renders her violently nauseous. Her belief is only worsened by the fact that almost everyone around her keeps their distance.

Even her own father deserted her before she was born, leaving Maura alone with her emotionally distant mother, Caelyn. Even though Maura is desperate for answers about her unknown parent, Caelyn remains heartbroken and her daughter can’t bring herself to reopen her mother’s wounds. Or is there a more sinister reason Caelyn refuses to utter a word about her long-lost love?

When a cruel prank nearly claims Maura’s life, one of her classmates, Ron, rushes to her rescue. Darkly handsome & mysteriously accepting, Ron doesn’t seem to want to stay away, but Maura is reluctant to get too close, since her mother has announced she’s moving the two of them to Vancouver…nearly 3,000 miles away from their hometown of Indiana, Pennsylvania.

If life wasn’t already challenging enough, Maura begins to experience bizarre, physical changes her mother seems hell bent on ignoring, compelling Maura to fear for her own life. Vicious nightmares, blood cravings, failing health and the heart-shattering loss of Ron—as well as the discovery of a tangled web of her own mother's lies—become obstacles in Maura's desperate quest for the unfathomable truth she was never prepared to uncover.

Amazon- http://goo.gl/SPmOG0

Claudette Melanson writes & edits in Kitchener, Ontario, with her husband Ron and four bun babies: Tegan, Pepper, Butters & Beckett. She graduated from Indiana University of Pennsylvania with a BA in English and an MA in Literature. She's wished to be a Vampire since age five. She hopes to one day work full time as an author, since there are many, many books living inside her head. In her spare time she enjoys watching Japanese Anime and reading vampire stories....along with other great fiction. She is also very interested in good health and is an advocate of Ketogenic eating, using whole and natural foods. Her favorite foods are bulletproof coffee, cashew flour crust pizza and treats made with xylitol and almond, coconut or cashew flours. Future dreams include writing many more books and spending more time with her son Jacob. Her biggest dream is to make Universal Halloween Horror Nights a yearly event with hubby and son. A Rabbit Rescue fanatic, she also hopes to help rescues all over the world save many innocent lives.

2015 Readers' Favorite Gold Medal Winner for YA Mystery

2015 RONE Award Finalist for YA Paranormal

2015 New Apple Top Medalist for Young Adult Ebook

Chosen as one of 400 for the second round of the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award for 2014!!!

http://www.claudettemelanson.com/

https://www.facebook.com/Cmelansonauthor

https://twitter.com/Bella623

http://www.amazon.com/Claudette-Melanson/e/B00IHS7GBI/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_pop_1

Amazon- http://goo.gl/SPmOG0

Broken. That was the best way to describe my poor half-hearted mother. That was the way my father left her, so she couldn’t help it. And when I came home from my doomed outing, I was afraid what was left of her just might fall to pieces. As Ron walked me up the front steps, I cringed away from the expression she’d have engraved on her face when she saw my scantly covered body, the blood dried into my hair from the ugly wound in my head…the boy I was with…

“Are you sure you want to come in?” I hated the fear that permeated my voice. I didn’t know if I was more afraid of Caelyn screaming at Ron before she knew what had happened, or her falling apart in front of him after she’d heard everything.

It was too late now…he was ringing the doorbell. He looked so much braver than I felt. I could see the anger that had crept back into him in the hard set of his lips, the flash in his dark eyes.

It didn’t take long at all for Caelyn to tear the door open, anxiety all over her face. She looked at Ron, dumbfounded. She must have caught sight of some part of me, because she instantly peered around his shoulder then to find me, standing meekly behind him, clad only in a boy’s shirt that just barely cleared my hips.

“Maura?! What the…” Her eyes fairly popped with dismayed astonishment.

“Hi, Mom.” What an asinine thing to say. I should have at least started with “I’m okay.”

Caelyn just stood there with her mouth hanging open. I felt the fear turn over, like a living thing, in my stomach. How was I going to survive this? How could I even begin to explain everything that had happened tonight?

Luckily, I had Ron. “Hi, um, Ms. DeLuca.” He started out sounding very shy, but as my mother’s brows furrowed closer together, he put a stronger edge to his voice. “I came to bring Maura home.” She was still scowling.

“Um…I’m Ron by the way.” He put his hand out to her. She ignored that entirely.

My mother’s look was venomous. “Maura! Get in the house this instant!”

Oh boy… She thought Ron was at fault for whatever imagined atrocities were going through her brain right now.

“Mom!” I was desperate to put everything right, despite how much trouble I knew I’d be in. “You have it all wrong!”

“I said GET IN THE HOUSE!” she screamed at me, absolute fury flying from her eyes. I’d never seen her so angry before, and I was terrified. “Do I need to ask you again?”

“N-n-no ma’am,” I stuttered. I hurried past Ron, but not without looking up at him with apology in my eyes. I felt horrible for his being put in the middle of all this just because he’d happened to save my life.

Once inside, I steeled myself to try to talk to my mother. “Mom, will you please just let me…”

“Don’t say anything, Maura.” Her voice shook. “Do you have any idea what you’ve put me through tonight?”

I was confused then. Did she want me to stay quiet or answer her question?

Ron saved me again. “I think I can explain.” He took a tentative step onto the living room carpet.

I didn’t like the way Caelyn’s head snapped around when she looked at him. “What was your name again?” she asked viciously.

I saw him swallow hard as he answered, “Ron.”

She turned on him then. “Well, Ron!” It sounded like she’d chewed on his name before spitting it out. “Do you mind telling me why it is you’re out with my daughter when she’s supposed to be with Katie Parker? And after you’ve answered that, I’d really love to know why you would bring her home wearing only that!!” She pointed the index finger of her shaking hand at me, standing on the plush, blue carpet next to our couch, holding onto its arm for support, my knees knocking together.

Ron went a little pale… I couldn’t stand to see my hero wrongly accused.

“Mom! Listen to me! If-if it weren’t for him, for Ron…Mom, I’d be dead right now!” I shouted it all out quickly, before she had a chance to silence me again.

Amazon- http://goo.gl/SPmOG0

What are you working on now? Can we get an excerpt?

Right now, I’m working on the third book in the Maura DeLuca trilogy, Riptide. This book starts out with Maura being left all alone after making some very bad choices. Please see an excerpt below:

I could see Aldiva’s cold fire dampen a bit with the arrival of this newcomer, who made her way over to me so she could lift my chin with her cool finger gauging my looks with that confident gaze of hers. “There,” she traced the fading wound with her other fingertip, “you’re almost as good as new. My, my, my but you do favor Maxwell.” She smiled at me—a reaction I wasn’t expecting—and the terror permeating my bones eased off just a touch.

She turned away from me and wagged her finger at Aldiva. “No, no, no, Aldiva. You will bring no harm to Maura.” The Romanian flair to their words still lingered in all three. It made me feel like maybe I wasn’t in Vancouver anymore, my head was so full of light and fluffy already…far too much excitement of a brand I did not enjoy. A voice that was becoming all too familiar these days whispered a reminder that I deserved any malice that came my way.

“Come, come, Maura.” I couldn’t help but shiver at the cold touch of the hands that lifted me so easily from my puddled state upon the uneven shoreline. Millicent appeared to be a friend; I hoped she wouldn’t take offense.

“I suppose Elias is right behind you?” Gregor huffed.

“Unlike you, dear Gregor, I am not so easily followed.” She chuckled darkly once more. Gregor simply rolled his eyes. Even if she hadn’t defended me against Aldiva, I found Millicent impossible not to like, immediately.

Do you have a blog and, if so, what types of posts would a visitor find on it?

I do indeed. My blog is a mix of things. One time you might find an interview with my very talented cover illustrator, another, a post about how I used diet to (mostly) cure my Rheumatoid Arthritis. I like to give me readers a glimpse into who I am the whole way around, so I don’t limit my topics. My last post, at this time, details how authors can use Pinterest to create a board of visuals for writing/readers. I like to help other authors out, so as I go along and learn, I’m sure there will be more posts about tips and tricks with all aspects of being an author.

Everyone has visions of where they see themselves in the future, be it a year or five. Where do you see yourself in five years? Where did you see yourself five years ago? Did you make it there?

In five years I hope to have at least another ten books published. That’s two a year, and I feel it’s a realistic goal. Right now, I’m trying to pick up more editing jobs, so I can work from home and gain more writing time, at the same time. My big goal is to make a living income as an author, and I’ll work toward that with everything I’ve got! I also plan to cure my RA entirely by continuing to adjust my diet. I have also set my eyes on moving back out west. I used to live in Vancouver and miss it far more than I thought I would. Ontario hasn’t been a good place for me for several reasons and I’d love more than anything to give Whitehorse in the Yukon Territories a try. I am definitely planning to move there in the next few years. Would be a stellar place to write

Five years ago, I was working on Rising Tide (it took me six years to finish it!) and hoping to get it published. I was offered a publishing contract, but didn’t like the terms and lack of freedom concerning MY own work. I was the one who made it. I knew how I wanted it to come out from cover to content. I decided to go Indie all the way and am still very happy to have made that decision. I wish I could have written more books than I have now in those years, but I wrote Undertow in nine months, so I’m getting faster. Quality, however, is my priority over speed—and always will be.

What do you do when you're not writing?

I have four adorable little bunny babies. They get a lot of play time when I’m not writing. I love to get down in the floor with them and we toss around all the wooden chew toys. On a day off from writing or editing from other authors, I love to go to Canada’s Wonderland—I’m a coaster addict! We have one of the five giga coasters in the world; that’s one with a top height of 300 – 399 feet, which runs a full course. I almost chickened out the first time, but was so glad I rode it. Huge thrill! I love horror movies and reads and another favorite activity is going to the Halloween Haunt at Wonderland or Halloween Horror Nights at Universal in Florida.

Can you tell us three interesting things about you that you’re sure we don’t already know?

In college, I was the biggest workaholic, both in the area of study and service. I was president of every club in the English department and in my senior year, the English department gave me an award in my name. The Claudette [Melanson] Senior Service Award. Now, that made me cry.

My English honor fraternity beat out all the social fraternities one year at the alcohol-free mix off and took the huge trophy for Best of Show. Our them was Death’s Angst—death was angry because no one was driving drunk and could be claimed by him that night. We had a graveyard with names on the stones like Danny Drovedrunk and wrote a poem that we hung up, which the school kept because it captured the idea of the event so well.

I used to waitress at a restaurant called The Italian Oven in college. We had to write our name upside down (from our vantage point) in crayon when we went up to the table. Do you have any idea how hard it is to learn how to write CLAUDETTE upside down???

What is your all-time favorite book?

Twilight. And I know some people are so critical of that book. For some reason it spoke to me like no other. I love the way Stephenie Meyer didn’t have to rely on sex or violence to sell books. What appealed to so many people, I think, whether they realized it or not was the simplicity of that relationship. Edward didn’t want anything from Bella. He just wanted to be with her and to protect her. She didn’t need to sleep with him or have to go to extraordinary measures to please him. I thought it was a great love story and it captivated me so much, it was painful to put it down. I have no idea why so many people hated on it, especially some who loved it to begin with. But I’m proud to say I love those books…and there’s a reason they sold so many copies and spawned five movies.

Describe an ordinary day in the life of Claudette

I’m always up at 6:00 AM or before. I can never sleep in. The first thing I do is cut up a banana for my four bun babies so they won’t riot and murder me. If it’s a Monday-Wednesday, I’ll check some of my social media for an hour or so before going to my day job. There, I do AP/AR from 9:00 – 3:00. Once I get home I spend my evenings connecting with readers and authors on social media a touch before editing for other authors until it’s time for bed. I usually read for an hour or so at that time.

If it’s a weekend, that is when I write, along with doing the other two things. My life is all about books in every spare moment I have in some form or another, but I love it.

Thanks for stopping by Claudette, next week we have Jessica Baumgartner who will talking about her newly released book, Embracing Entropy.