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Category: Creativity
First Reviews for The Matriarch: Changeling
A few early reviews are coming in…and the responses are positive!
I’m so glad that I found out about this series a few years ago. The third book of his series does answer a lot of questions, and I’m excited that there will be a fourth book. Do yourself a favor, and get into this story as soon as possible. You won’t regret it. The author makes it easy to read and to care for Janiss right away.
And also…
This is a great series for fans of vampires and mystery…the one thing that stays consistent (are) the vampires themselves. They are modern, sleek and still extremely deadly without being parodies of themselves…Despite being unable to age, (Janiss) has grown up quite a bit and has adapted to her role in the series. She’s quickly becoming a favorite vampire character to me. The new vampire in the book, Nancy, piqued my interest and the way she acts; her past and her sometimes questionable intentions kept me reading as fast as I could.
Get the new book for yourself today!
The Penultimate Matriarch: Revelations
Now that The Matriarch: Changeling has published in its final form, I can share a few ideas.
It’s probably my worst-kept secret: The Matriarch was never intended to be a series. I left a few questions unanswered because I had told the story I wanted to tell: when you’ve lost everything (your dreams, your life, your best friend), how do you go on? The main character Janiss finds a way, but the story doesn’t end with “happily ever after.” How could it? The ending was intended to be satisfying, but it still leaves the mystery of “what might happen next?” with little more than “you decide.” I ended up tricking myself; I started to think about exactly what the continuing story would be and realized I wasn’t finished.
Why four planned books instead of a trilogy? A tetralogy isn’t uncommon in fiction, but the truth is I WAS writing a trilogy…if you envision the original novel as a prequel: “Janiss Begins,” making the second, third, and fourth books a “sequel trilogy” to the first novel. To continue her story and her growth as a character, she couldn’t do it alone, especially after all the deaths and demise in the original novel. Janiss had accepted becoming a vampire and resolved to exist as one, but she hadn’t yet accepted the full responsibility and legacy that Louisa had left for her. The Matriarch: Guardians is about her stepping up to become a protector and making decisions, to accept her role as a leader.
Isn’t a changeling a fairy child secretly swapped out for the real one? Yep, but like many ideas in this novel series, the use of the term in the title The Matriarch: Changeling is a metaphor. In continuing her story, Janiss has grown comfortable at Cedarcrest Sanctum; it’s easy to be a “good” vampire when all your needs are catered to, but what do you do when all of that is gone? The interesting part of the third novel to me is that no one even knows Janiss is missing, so no one is looking for her! It’s an interesting turning point including the real temptation to walk away…offered up by none other than the Devil in disguise.
So, what’s left to tell? Louisa and Timothy always had a plan for Cedarcrest Sanctum, and it may not be what you think. The final book is about relevance and dealing with immortality. While the story of Janiss is part of that, it’s also something that all of the characters will struggle with…and not everyone is going to make it. Sad? Yes, but also realistic. The tone of this series is and always has been there is no happily ever after – there is only what happens next.
New Key Art for The Matriarch: “The Waiting Tree”
Inspired by a scene from the new book, Janiss prepares to vanquish a foe. Even though she’s vamped out and her eyes are blackened, she has also chosen to arm herself with a Decapitator. I may have to make this into a poster!
“A Third Choice” (A Matriarch Short Story)
A Matriarch short story by Kevin A. Ranson
Yes, it hurts. Believe me, I know. Keeping as still as possible is the best thing you can do right now.
Ironic, isn’t it? A piece of wood sticking out of your chest isn’t killing you, but it’s causing so much pain you probably wish it would.
I’ll also apologize for all the motion. We’ve taken precautions, but being inside a moving vehicle makes it more difficult.
Of course, the best idea is I could remove that stake…but there would be conditions.
I don’t know if you’ve ever been staked before or even how long you’ve been a vampire, but from the way you were being treated by your sire, we guessed it wasn’t voluntary. Those kinds of relationships rarely end well, so we interceded. You watched us destroy your maker, but we both know what stays in our heads. Yes, I still have a little of mine,too.
Besides that, the other thing you’ll have to worry about is yourself.
Continue reading ““A Third Choice” (A Matriarch Short Story)”
Thoughts About Writing: On Seeking Feedback
A few early Sunday thoughts with an eye toward writers.
First: “be careful what you ask for.” If you ask for a critique and you’re lucky enough to get one, treat it for what it is: another person’s opinion. The goal should be to improve your craft, so while you may not agree with the person’s feedback, there is a reason why they had it. Sure, maybe they’re a troll, but that’s easy enough to spot much of the time.
Second: “don’t take criticism as a personal attack, even when it is.” I come from a unique perspective since I honed my narrative voice in film critique before I seriously plied my trade as a fiction writer. My critiques have improved in the same way as my writing, an attempt to equally praise and point out needful improvements.
A writer wears many hats, but long after the idea, research, plotting, writing, editing, polishing and marketing, someone is going to read your work and your mind will be naked before them. It takes a lot to put yourself out there, and in today’s social media, people associate the author with the work – YOU ARE YOUR BRAND. Your fan base will not just remember your work but also you and how you acted, so unless you can elevate character assassination to an art form, be warm, be generous, and be humble.
And remember: thou art mortal…even while we play God with our pens.
My Panels for May 22-25, 2015 Comicpalooza in Houston, Texas
May 22-25, 2015: Writer guest (confirmed) at Comicpalooza in Houston, Texas. I’ll be on the following panels if you’re in any way entertained by what I do and so inclined to attend:
- Friday, May 22 at 11:30AM – The Storytelling of Star Wars (Panel, PG, 1 hour) Panel Rm 03 – 350B
- Saturday, May 23 at 2:30PM – No-Holds-Barred Critique Workshop (Workshop, PG-13, 3 hours) Panel Rm 21 – 352A
- Monday, May 25 at 1:00PM – Must-Watch TV: The Best of Fantasy and Horror on Television (Panel, PG-13, 1 hour) Panel Rm 05 – 350C
Realistic Edible Fake Blood: My Tweaked Recipe
You can buy fake blood, but it usually isn’t edible. For a character cosplay I’ve been working on for conventions, I wanted a sophisticated, dapper, vampire-about-town…walking about with a wine glass filled with his preferred drink of choice. To look good up close, you need something dark red but not fake looking, thick and sticky like it’s just starting to clot, and believably cloudy. And hey, shouldn’t it be delicious?
Starting with three recipes I pulled from online, none of them gave me exactly the effect I was looking for. The chocolate-flavored ones seem to yield the best consistency (and taste), where one drop will hang on to the end of your finger forever, shiny and full of life.
Realistic Edible Fake Blood, Dark
- Yield: 1/2 cup
Ingredients:
- 1/2 cup light corn syrup
- 1-1/2 tsp corn starch
- 1-1/2 tsp cocoa powder
- 20 drops red gel food coloring
- 1 drop blue gel food coloring
Instructions:
- In a glass mixing bowl, add the 1/2 cup light corn syrup.
- Add the 20 gel drops of red and 1 of blue (do NOT use too much blue). Mix until blended; looking good already!
- A little at a time, add in equal amounts of cocoa powder and corn starch. These provide consistency, cloudiness, and flavor. Allow time to mix these in; the longer you stir, the better it looks up close. Watch for clumps and crush them in!
- Pour into a sealed container and store in fridge until needed.
Notes: I tried using regular pancake syrup as a base and chocolate syrup instead of powder, but the cloudiness doesn’t look as good. The color is only slightly off in artificial lighting but great in sunlight; that may be due to the brand of food coloring I’m using. I’ll try a few different ones in the future to see if it makes a difference.
Guest Appearance: Comicpalooza 2015, May 22-25
I’ll be running a few panels (and running around in general) at the George R. Brown Convention Center in Houston, Texas at Comicpalooza 2015, May 22-25. Panels, cosplay, roleplaying, celebrities, and all that kind of stuff. Plan to come on out and say “Howdy!”
I Hope to Never Meet One of My Own Vampires
Some of you may be aware of the Vampire Community, not just fans of the genre who embrace the lifestyle but those who believe themselves to be actual vampires. Psychic vampires absolutely exist, stealing your energy or lending it with their very presence, but I’m not talking about (to quote Ian from The Matriarch) “a mystically animated corpse that imitates the living so (it) can feed off of it.” Do they exist? I hope not – both for my sake and their own – because if they ever find out I created their world and inflicted them with their condition, I wholly expect them to be rather pissed off at me.
What I am saying is this: as a fiction writer, I do not believe what I create is real anywhere but on the page. These characters exist in my mind and that is what I share, and there are things I write about I wouldn’t wish on anyone…but, alas, such atrocities make for interesting storytelling.
I also don’t hate anyone calling themselves a vampire, but like an organized religion, there are a FEW who take it upon themselves to wage a personal crusade to say “yours isn’t real because *I* am real.” The Bard’s phrase “the lady doth protest too much” fully applies here with the same level of annoyance as believers knocking on your door Saturday morning to tell you “the good news” about our Lord and Savior (we all have our little illusions; far be it from me to take away yours).
Finally, we all wear masks, and the first step in any personal change is to act the part; it isn’t a far stretch of the imagination to think the human mind can convince itself of anything (Nic Cage’s “Vampire’s Kiss” comes to mind as an example) until the mask becomes the truth. All of this said, however, no vampire character I have ever created would log onto a social network expressly for the purpose of convincing the world that they’re real; it is far more likely they’ll deny everything and smile at the ones screaming in all caps across the internet.
Kevin A. Ranson 