escribo. amo. vivo.

I'm feeling nervous about proposing several paranormal romances to local publishers here so I thought to accompany my query letter with temporary book covers for them, just so they can better visualize it... There are no paranormal romances / chick lit here in the Phils yet...or if there are, I haven't seen any yet.

What do you guys think?

Puppy Love

Tagline: Sometimes, Man’s best friend can be a girl’s boyfriend.

Summary: Also known as ‘werewolf’ in urban legends, a Lyccan has the ability to alternate between human and canine form at will. Lyccans are incredibly powerful…and hot!

A white wolf-like dog comes out of nowhere and rescues 16-year-old Shina like a canine knight in furry armor. She names him Savior and the next day, Savior lives up to its name by helping her find a job. With it, she meets her boss Taki.

Taki is a Lyccan prince shunned by his kind and with neither knowledge nor interest in humans till Shina came along. He looks like a black-haired angel, speaks less than Mr. Bean, and with a touch-me-not attitude that even the Queen of England would be proud of. But all that changed when Shina entered his life.

Everyday, Shina gushes all about Taki to Savior (read: ang gwapo-gwapo ni Taki, Savior!), never knowing that her four-legged companion and masungit pet shop boss is one and the same.

 

Wing It On

Tagline: The wings of love may be more real than you think!

Summary: Souris descend from angels sent here on earth. They could be just like you and me…if not for their wings.

My name is Shea. A few days ago, I was just a blissfully ordinary 16-year-old struggling to get a scholarship.

But now, thanks to a ghastly incident, I find myself with wings – light pink! – and living in an all-girls dormitory where my co-boarders jump off the balconies everyday (to fly, you know, and not because they’re suicidal), study the history of non-human creatures in school, and get nasty just because Tristan, the baddest of all bad boys and one of the sought-after Souris in town, happened to notice me.

My life, easy? Not at all! Cool, yeah. Weird, oh yes. But easy, simple, peaceful? Not a chance, but what the heck? Wing it on!

 

Love Bites

Tagline: And it does! Literally.

Caros have eternally fair skin, stunning looks, abilities beyond human comprehension…and like vampires, they can barely tolerate sunlight and need blood to survive.

16-year-old Trishanne is an ordinary girl on all counts – she dreams about having a boyfriend, is scared to death of Math quizzes, and with no idea what the future holds for her. Trishanne is ordinary, yes, just as long as you neglect the fact that her grandmother’s a spirit medium and she can’t lie to save her life. One rainy night, she finds a guy on the ground…and he bites her on the wrist?

Parentless for years and ceaselessly hunted by girls for his wealth and power, Riyu is a Caro prince with serious trust issues. His sheer perfection makes him stand out even in a crowd of extraordinary people. An unexpected hitch in his plans renders him weak for blood…until Trishanne comes by like a Good Samaritan...ess. Whatever.

One bite makes them meet. One look makes them fight. Could one kiss make them fall in love?

Last Wednesday, I got an email reply from my editor ----

The book's already printed and is now being sent out to distributors for consideration. It will probably be another week before the distributors issue their purchase orders. Until a PO reaches our office, we cannot issue the remaining 50% of your payment. However, you can come here and get your 10 compli copies.

So today, I went there and got them.

It felt very surreal and I admit a bit anticlimactic when I finally had those books in my hands...it's like, is this truly for real? Is this really happening? This might not seem like huge news to others but for me, it's fulfillment of one of my greatest desires - like, one of my TOP 3 GOALS for my life.

But...this is real, right? haha. Still can't believe it.

What more when they're finally out in bookstores?!

 

 

Okay, now that I've gotten that - read previous entry - off my chest, I can sigh in contentment because it's really, really nice to be back here in Tabulas. I see there have been a lot of changes with the CP, and I'm still tinkering my way around the new features. Really, I don't know how I managed to stay away this long.

-------

So...what to talk about? Our third "semester" in Vibe's street dance (new style hip hop) is about to end. Last session will be next Tuesday. But we'll be enrolling for a new sem again and that would go all the way till the first or second week of December maybe. After that, I think we should take a rest...Christmas being a busy season and all. Then maybe go back February...

I think I'm improving in dancing, but I wish I could improve more. At least my body's more flexible...there are a lot of things I'm amazed I can do now, things I wasn't able to do at the start...I look forward to the next sem since a few others might be joining us. The more the merrier really...

I watched Asylum this morning with my kid brother - and for some time, Allen - before Allen and I left for the shop.

It made me think of how characters in horror flicks often - make that almost always - commit the same DEADLY mistakes.

So I thought, if I were in a horror movie, I'd make sure NOT to do any of the following:

In no particular order
NEVER ----

1) Look back.
They're always, always behind you. Even if you hear them, they're still there.

2) Think it's not real.
It is. People who doubt, joke, scoff, or worse, bully people who do believe that something unnatural's going on is usually the first to die.

3) Take off my clothes.
For any reason! They often die in the first few minutes of the movie.

4) Assume IT is dead, whatever IT may be.
If you're going to kill it, give it your best shot. If you're going to check if it's dead, assume that it's not.

5) Enter any premise that people say it's haunted.
If people say it's haunted, it is. There's this blog I stumbled into - without help from Stumble Upon though - that features the same topic and he writes how one of Eddie Murphy's movie characters say something like 'why can't white people just leave the house? if they say it's haunted then it's haunted".

6) Separate.
The more isn't just merrier, it's safer, too. Never venture into a house, forest, school, graveyard, church or just any place ALONE. You're practically begging to be killed.

7) Panic.
Easiest way to get killed.

8) Have hangups about the past.
Supernatural villains tend to have a way of using it against you.

9) Answer the phone.
Sometimes you have to - like when your friend's trying to warn you about the killer (mortal or otherwise) inside your house - but more often than not (Scream, I Know What You Did Last Summer, Ringu, and 10,504 more), the message really isn't to your advantage to hear.

10) Be curious.
Cats are not the only ones who die because of curiosity. Being curious is what makes you discover things best left unknown. Don't be curious, specifically, about locked doors, dusty old books, strange creatures, eerie-looking places, and just about anything that looks curious.

11) Stay put when lights start flickering.
It's a dead giveaway for supernatural presence.

12) Stay in a house whose history you're unaware of.
And the worst transgressors of this rule would probably be the folks in Amityville. They already knew of what happened, but they still didn't mind!

Of course, being a war machine like Resident Evil's Alice, resourceful like Lara Croft, ruthless like Alien's Ellen Ripley, or just being a plain Ghostbuster would help a lot, but then again where's the fun in that?

Now, in Area 51,  a similar list was created and here are some of my favorites:

Never say that you'll be right back because you won't be.

Always make sure that your car has a fresh battery so it will start immediately in times of crisis.

Turn the bloody lights on!

Big breasts and blonde hair are a death wish.

If you find a town which looks deserted, it's probably for a good reason. Take the hint and stay away.

Never read a book of demon summoning aloud, even as a joke.

Do not search the basement, especially if the power has just gone out.

Always check the back seat of your car.

If on a stormy night, you find a window open which you thought was previously closed, do not close it. It may be your only way out when whatever has come in through it is chasing you.

If your friend turns into a demon and then suddenly turns back to normal, kill them because they are not normal!

Go ahead and slap the screaming hysterical girl, she will be the one to distract everyone when there really is danger.

Nothing is ever over if it is still night-time.

Take heed of all warnings from animals and children. They usually know more than you do.

Never run to the top floor of any building if you are being chased by a maniac/monster. Your only way out will be to jump.

Do not take *anything* from the dead.

Stay away from certain geographical locations. Such as: Amityville, Elm Street, Transylvania, Nilbog, the Bermuda Triangle or any small town in Maine.

Beware of strangers bearing tools such as chainsaws, staple guns, hedge trimmers, electric carving knives, lawnmowers, butane torches, smoldering irons, band saws or any (possibly deathly) device made from deceased companions.

Always be nice to the shy, quiet, unpopular girl in school.

When battling zombies, always sever their head or shoot them in the brain. If you they still want to eat you after that, just surrender. There's no hope for you anyway.

Never say "Who's there?" It's a death wish.

=========

And to round things off nicely, here are a couple of books I saw in Amazon that would go well with this topic:

How to Survive a Horror Movie: All the Skills to Dodge the Kills

Chapters include:
How to Survive a Night of Babysitting
How to Convince the Skeptical Local Sheriff
How to Perform an Exorcism
How to Tell If You've Been Dead Since the Beginning of the Movie
How to Vanquish a Murderous Doll


The Zombie Survival Guide: Complete Protection from the Living Dead
- Written by Mel Brooks' son and SNL staff writer Max Brooks.

World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War
-still from the same author (Brooks)

How to Build a Robot Army: Tips on Defending Planet Earth Against Alien Invaders, Ninjas, and Zombies
- written by Daniel H. Wilson. He has another book - How to Survive a Robot Uprising.

The Monster Hunter's Handbook: The Ultimate Guide to Saving Mankind from Vampires, Zombies, Hellhounds, and Other Mythical Beasts
- it's fully illustrated, too!

 

=====

Any tips / thoughts to contribute? 

 

 

 

Just because you're poor doesn't excuse you from being good.

------

Just because I've sworn off from being angry doesn't mean you can do everything to provoke me.

------

Sometimes, these people make me so mad that I forget the most important lesson in life. That life's too short to waste on emotions like anger and revenge. I just want to see the goodness in people. But they make it so hard to do that.

------

Good thing I'm going to watch Dora later with my family. Hopefully, being in the presence of hundreds of kids would remind me about the nicer things in life.