Happy Spooky Season, all! 🎃 There’s so much in today’s newsletter that I’mma gonna start with a summary:
Blood Demands now available with new title 🥳
Blood Demands audiobook press release, pictures of Amber in the studio 🎆
Sex Questionnaire for you, the reader 🌶️🌶️🌶️
Spooky Geek Faire announcement 👻
Review of the film Monster Mash (strap in for the 🎢)
Song for your playlist 🎧
OK, first off, as you may recall, Blood Sine Qua Non was renamed Blood Demands. This required so much more work than you could imagine. Firstly, we had to choose the damn name, and that was a workshopping that nearly did me in. Reducing “Without Which, Nothing” to just one word that would somehow capture the full depth of the Latin meaning, argue about the relative merits of the few proposed words exhaustively (because choose the wrong word means less readership of the book, as I have learned to my cost!), and then, once you have agreed a word, go online and search to make sure the title is not already being used by a book that is too close to yours in genre or so famous that yours will get lost in the dust, find that is indeed the case, and then argue about the remaining choices, rinse and repeat.
After that, it’s re-layout the cover (which involves having to work in InDesign, which is my least favorite Adobe app—and that’s the kindest way for me to phrase that.
There was an added step here, because the book was in the studio already with Amber, and the very best way to find any typos in your book is to have it be recorded in audiobook form. So there was a “go through and take out the final remaining typos” pass for the text of the book, as well. So that got added to the careful task of updating the front and back matter in Atticus.
New title page looking good! 👓
Then it’s getting the new ISBN, and getting the new internal matter uploaded, which impacts cover size, so new covers have to be made for BOTH Ingram and Amazon, print and e-book, all with differing sizes, file sizes, and file types to be made for each.
Finally, taking down BSQN from places it’s already being sold, whilst trying to not lose the reviews we already have. This has failed utterly on Amazon (those of you who wrote reviews have gotten emails asking to repost them, so you know this already!) but I can only email people for whom I can get contact information, so we are losing a fair few reviews. So, if you are rebuying Blood Demands or getting ready to buy the audiobook, would you please take a few moments to post a quick review when you finish? I desperately need them to make up for the loss!
💥 Buy on Amazon | Buy signed copies from me 💥
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PRESS RELEASE: Amber Benson To Narrate Raven Belasco’s BLOOD DEMANDS, Second In Blood & Ancient Scrolls Series 📰
Boston, Massachusetts Sep 25, 2024 (Issuewire.com) – Immoral Influence Publications (IIP) takes its autumn publication season by storm by releasing its third audiobook on October 22, 2024 — just in time for readers to get ready for Halloween! The BLOOD DEMANDS audiobook by Raven Belasco will be narrated by Amber Benson and produced by Punch Audio.
Amber in a dramatic moment
Amber Benson is best known for her role as Tara Maclay on the iconic TV series Buffy the Vampire Slayer. She has directed, produced, and starred in myriad films and television shows since then. Benson has also written numerous books including Death’s Daughter and has narrated books for authors including John Scalzi and Cory Doctorow.
Speaking about working on the series, Benson explained that Blood Demands “is about coming into your own and finding your family at the same time. The series itself is also about finding out who you are, coming to terms with that, and also letting your found family bring you forward and more into yourself.”
Things get a little slap-happy in the recording studio at the end of a long day
Speaking about the project, Belasco said, “I am so delighted that Amber is continuing to narrate this series. It’s not just about her incredible talent for performing in the recording studio. She is simply the perfect Noosh and we couldn’t do it without her!”
BLOOD DEMANDS is the second installment of the BLOOD & ANCIENT SCROLLS series. This fresh and unique exploration of the vampire myth rolls smoothly cross-genre to check boxes for fantasy, horror, history, and action-adventure fans.
Please forward this newsletter to anyone who you think might be interested in the audiobook, such as Buffy fans or super busy people who are basically only reading via audiobook these days. Word of mouth makes a HUGE difference to our sales 💞
HERE’S THE QUESTIONAIRE: https://forms.gle/6LF5LJhHYMjkoM979
For those who have not seen it on the socials, as I start working on the fourth novel in the Blood & Ancient Scrolls series, one of the things on my mind is sex.
You might joke that that is a topic you’d expect to be on my mind all the time…but these thoughts are pretty serious 🤔
Based on the popularity of authors like Laurell K. Hamilton, I thought that vampire story readers expected a certain amount of spice. And since I can write very good spicy scenes, I made them vital to the plot, and had fun writing all of it. And ever since, it’s been a point of pride to me that the loving sex scenes in my books were as explicit as the brutal violence, and balanced it out well ⚖️
But I’m at the point now where I could change things, if fans of the series have strong feelings on the matter. So if you have read even one book in the series, could you please take a moment to do this short poll (just 7 questions!) and let me know what YOU think, and I will factor that into how I write Book IV and all the following books in the series…
And: thank you for being such amazing fans and always being so actively participatory in the series. Your caring so passionately about the am’r is what keeps me going!
You’ve heard of the Geek Faire, well, have you heard of the SPOOOKY Geek Faire? As part of Pandemonium’s on-going 35th Anniversary, they’ll be hosting a spooky (and geeky!) craft faire in our downstairs on October 27th. Featuring one-of-a-kind art pieces, illustrations, books, pins, stickers, and so much more! I’ll be there with the fresh-off-the-presses Blood Demands and hot spiced cider — and previewing my Halloween outfit 👀 See you there, at the faire! 🎪
It’s the journey that matters… 😂😭
Last night I watched the 2024 film Monster Mash, mostly on the basis of the cover image. This means I was not prepared for the journey I was about to take. I don’t watch a huge amount of horror films, so the director being The Asylum didn’t even perk up my ears as it clearly ought to have done. A much better review than I could ever write was waiting for me, after the movie was over, and I’ll cut in about halfway through…
To rope this review back into my introduction, I intended to quip that maybe being blind wouldn’t be so horrible, since then “Monster Mash” would only be able to offend my sense of sound, not sight. The joke is on me though, because “Monster Mash” isn’t bad enough for that to be true. A tripod keeps the camera steady. Sets are lit with actual electrical equipment, not available light sources. Shots also appear appropriately blocked as opposed to grabbing footage with run-and-gun carelessness. And although they’re not fantastic, monster makeups are on par with work that was acceptable on syndicated TV like “Psi-Factor” and “Poltergeist: The Legacy.”
Don’t misunderstand. “Monster Mash” is still a movie whose stiff dialogue and cut-rate production value keep it ready-made for RiffTrax. It’s just that whenever The Asylum logo appears at the start of a film, your standards hit the floor so hard, they fall unconscious. At least, they should. Once they’re flattened down there, or if your better sense falls unconscious too, their movies become watchable, occasionally even entertaining in an “I’d better get stoned before muscling through the remaining hour of this” manner.
Obviously, if you measure an Asylum flick against a multimillion-dollar Hollywood blockbuster, that’s a lopsided seesaw where “Monster Mash” will be launched into the air as a total eyesore. On the other hand, if you put it up against an average Amityville indie shot on a cellphone with Kermit-colored greenhorns who’ve never acted before, “Monster Mash” almost looks like “Gone with the Wind.”
Let me say that my own final decision was that the film was unintentionally charming and the final fight scene made me feel like I was six and watching the Creature Double Feature on a Sunday afternoon, and I don’t feel like my time was wasted. (And yes, “my time wasn’t wasted” is the best that it can get 😂 ) I’ve also discovered that the film was shot in only five days, so actually, considering that, I really have to say it was startlingly good and really adorable, and absolutely not a waste of your time to watch it ☠️
Today’s Music recommendation: The lush, melodic Cake by Victoria Canal 🎧
OK, friends, you are fucking amazing if you made it down this far! 😍 See you in two weeks, and until then, be good or be good at it! 😘
SHOP EBOOKS, PAPERBACK, & AUDIOBOOKS:
Blood Ex Libris | Blood Demands | Blood Ad Infinitum | Blood Triad
If you have questions, comments, or requests, just hit “reply” & talk to me!