Soulless - Cell mates

Thea and Diesel within Alpha Prison. 

Diesel didn’t say anything. He just looked at me. He looked at me like I was a walking, talking dog that he couldn’t figure out what to do with. He kept the blade near my throat, but for a split second I forgot it was there. “You’re unbelievable! The others were right, you’re ... you’re just some looney with anger issues.”

“Oh! I’m just some looney, am I?” Diesel inched closer as the prick of the blade pressed into my voice box.

Artist: http://kodamacreative.deviantart.com/

How to Train your Dragon 2

The first movie of How to Train your dragon came out in 2010 had been my top favourite movie since forever. I am already a huge fan of dragons, so just mix up an odd, runt of the litter Viking with a puppy like dragon pet, and you’ll have my heart forever.

As a birthday celebration I had organised a private advanced screening at Doncaster Crown Village for my 24^th birthday for the movie, How to Train your Dragon 2. From the very start, I was welcomed into Gold class and taken to my own private section of the foyer for me and my guests. I had an amazing organiser Tina, who is a fellow Australian author, help me and my friends feel comfortable and welcomed. We had wines, beers and soft drinks at our choosing, and spring rolls and chicken stripes that was so addictive that we could’ve stayed out there for hours just eating. In the movie we had battered fish, burgers and potato wedges. As I couldn’t get enough people to fill the cinema, we all had double of everything.





After chatting with everyone at the pre drinks/ snacks for half an hour and passing around my very own Toothless toy, from Build a Bear, we were led inside to our own private cinema.The movie … I just don’t have enough words to describe how it made me feel. As soon as the lights dimmed and the open sea appeared on screen, swinging us towards the familiar jagged island of Berk, I was consumed into their world. I gasped, I laughed, I cried, I held my breath and clenched my fists. I was in a rollercoaster of emotions.

Humour was intertwined throughout most of the dialogue, especially with the dynamic twins, Ruffnut and Tuffnut, gentle giant Fishlegs and egotistic jock Snotlout. I had watch the first movie enough times to pin all of their traits but what I found most impressive is that though the characters kept their very unique personalities and quirks,  the writers had changed them just enough to show the passage of time.

Suddenly there was a new presence of the ‘teenage hormone’ (even though they were twenty) and it had made way for a completely new type of drama. I had laughed and laughed and laughed with the interactions with Fishlegs and Snotlout as they tried to win Ruffnut's affection. Only to have her instead go all googly eyed over our new character, Eret the dragon trapper. She was hilarious, probably one of my favourite characters there. Her slow motion parts, oh my god, the best!

The dialogue felt fresh, it felt real, especially the scenes with Astrid and Hiccup, you can just see how advanced their relationship had become and how comfortable they were with each other. When they sat down they automatically scooted closer together, every touch and every look you could feel the connection spark between them.

But, in every great movie, even though there is humour and tingling love, there is also sacrifice and loss. I won’t reveal what happens, but I was in denial for a long time after this one particular scene. I even had to turn to my boyfriend in the seat next to me, just to get confirmation that what I think happened, really did happen. I cried, I’m not ashamed to admit it. I had tears streaking my makeup and fogging my vision for the next five minutes before I wiped them with my napkin. After the movie me and all of my friends were in a massive group discussion, shocked that that had happened.

Within the world of How to Train you Dragon there was just so much beautiful scenery of the lands around Berk that I was speechless. The colours, the landscapes, the different dragons, I had to sink further into my seat just to take it all in. You can tell a lot of work went into creating this incredible world, where colours washed the lands and flooded the skies in silvery sea of clouds. I had my breath taken away every time the scene changed and the doors were opened to a new type of discovery. I had bought the art book for the second movie, so I had thought I knew what was coming up but I was still amazed.

Now the part that hooked me from the very beginning were the dragons. I already loved Toothless with his young pup personality, but this movie showed him in so much new light that Toothless became a dragon with more depth than most characters. There was always something happening, the dragons were never stagnated or stale. They all had their own personalities, they all had their own flare and it was shown through background comedy. When Hiccup and Toothless were taken to the new island with all those new dragons, Toothless was like the new kid at school that became shy and cautious. I saw a lot of his mannerism were familiar to those of house hold pets too, like when he got spooked his back arched and his ears pointed up like a cat. When excited or happy his tongue would flop out the side of his mouth and he’ll pant, just like a dog. 

 

Whenever the dragons were together there was always something happening. Astrid and Hiccup could be talking about exploring more islands and Toothless and Stormfly (Astrid’s dragon) were having a game of tag in the back ground. Similar jokes like that happened through all of the movie and I don’t think I dropped that smile from my face once (well, except for the sad scene). I’ve already planned my next movie session to watch it again. I loved, loved, loved the first movie, but the second knocked it out of the park. I went in there with really high expectations and I am pleased to say they were all met.

Congratulations to the hard working team behind How to Train your Dragon, this is the best movie of 2014! 

The Three Hasting Brothers.

My Demonic Ghost- 

We have here the three brothers, Jordon has placed himself protectively in between Nathan and Evan. Nathan is glaring over Jordon's shoulder as Evan cowers away, depending on Jordon's presence to protect him.

Artist: http://judaru.deviantart.com/

Always trust the crazy ones ~

“Did he do it to you too?”

“Once, in a different body.”

“What happened?” I could hear his clothes shuffle as he walked up to the bars of his door. I also stepped up to the bars and glanced out across the hall. He was standing at the window side on, as if he was leaning on his shoulder with his head turned towards me. The twisted mane of his black hair had been combed back, revealing his thick strong eyebrows and sharp gaze underneath.

I licked my lips. It wasn’t fear that flooded me it was something else, like a type of cautious curiosity. When he failed to answer I asked instead, “How long have you been locked up?”

“A long time.”  He dropped his gaze and turned away, humming again underneath his breath. I swallowed out of nervous habit and felt my fingers tighten around the bars.

“I’m going to get out of here.”

“And how do you plan on doing that?”

I gulped again. “I’ll figure out something.”

“You know,” He started with a wispy laugh, “one day you’re going to get desperate enough to ask me for help.” 

Soulless - 115 pages

Feeling pretty good - Soulless is sitting at 115 pages now! Whoo! Nothing like some violence and foul language to keep the story moving. 

_______________________________

“Not just the contacts.” He snorted as though I had made a joke but the hard gaze of his eyes said this conversation was anything but funny. “You really think I’m ever going to stop chasing you?”

The light caused shadows to curve along his sharp cheek bones, his nose stuck out a little crooked and his jaw line was tight with tension. I had never seen him in such harsh light before. I had only seen him in the low lighting of the prison, where mostly darkness lit the halls. Mud had caught in the fine whiskers along his jaw and saturated the hem of his pant legs.

“No” I heard my voice whisper as it scratched at the back of my throat. “But you should have.”   

WINNER -

First off I would just like to thank everyone for helping me spread the word about the My Demonic Ghost series. This book first came to me while I was sitting in philosophy class, listening to the teaches of Descartes and his theory of deception.

From that class, I was introduced to Lock and the world of corruption and spirits. As many of you know, I started this give away as a thanks to all my supporters and friends, seriously, without you I wouldn't be where I am today.
Even when I am in my doubts, where I am too harsh on myself I look out towards you guys and cherish in the love and support you all so selflessly give out.

This give away was also to celebrate a massive milestone for me, not only did The Reapers win Horror of the Year, but My Demonic Ghost Banished Spirits was a best seller in Ghosts and Horror. I am still, to this moment, stunned and shocked to have reached that level. So again, thank you!

I had put all of your names into a random list organiser so this competition was as fair as it could possible be.

Please see picture.

Even if you didn't win this - don't fret, I will always have some sort of give away happening for you to participate in.   

Much love, Jacinta Maree

Florida Award Ceremony and Holiday

HOORAY! I am back and so is sweet, sweet jet lag. Thank you body, I just LOVE being awake at 4 am in the morning.  (insert sarcasm) 

Well, not sure if you were all aware but I've been away in Florida, Orlando in the US for the past 10 days. If you follow me on twitter I'm sure you saw my multiple updates about all the stuff going on. 

 Mum and I, confusing everyone as always. 

 Firstly, I went to Orlando Florida to accept the award for Horror of the Year 2013 for my second book - My Demonic Ghost The Reapers : http://www.amazon.com/Reapers-My-Demonic-Ghost-ebook/dp/B00F8LQ1JK/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1399321347&sr=8-2&keywords=jacinta+maree 

Me and my award... my precious 

The lovely Jacelynn that won Book of the Year! 

*waits for applause... only silence* Anyway, lol, it was a VERY long flight from Melbourne to LA took 14 hours, then we had a lay over of 3 hours, then another flight from LA to Salt Lake City which was another 3 hours, then another flight from Salt Lake City to Orlando which was ANOTHER 3 - 4 hours, to finally arrive in Florida to get ripped off by a taxi driver to our hotel. Yay! 

On the flight over we got to witness this amazing electrical storm from our plane window. We were just far enough away not to be scared, but close enough to see all the clashes of colours and the forks of lightning splinter through the clouds. So cool!

As I had no books left over from Supanova, I organised amazon to send my books straight to my hotel for the signing day. When I arrived at the hotel to collect the books they weren't there. Mind you, at this point of time I was two seconds away from freaking out. We managed to track the parcel online but the courier said the address was incomplete (amazon didn't write it properly or I dunno), and they had sent all my books BACK to Amazon. As the signing was the next day, I couldn't do anything to get them or to get more books so I went in empty handed. I was very lucky I had brought 6 books from home, so I had them at least. 

 

Me and my six books of awesome.

Amazon did apologise and send the books back to my home in Australia, free of charge, so I forgave them. I met so many wonderful people at the awards ceremony/ book signing. It was really awesome to sit and chat to fellow authors and learn more about the American lifestyle. I will just say this... WOW the food servings are HUGE! Mum and I had to share everything, we couldn't finish a meal between us. 

Oh, and I HATE automatic toilets. I'll tell you when I'm done!

Some of the awesome peeps at the award ceremony

This is my mother - Jacqui. 

I won't bore you with ALL my details, but I did get to go to Universal Studies and it BLEW MY MIND. The Harry Potter section, just... omg, I just want to live there! The lines weren't too bad and the weather wasn't too hot, so I didn't get sunburnt or dehydrated for once. (I have what they call corpse skin colour.) 

Me and my buddy, just causally. 

I did a lot of shopping and bought a lot of shoes (ops) and A LOT of MAC make up, because in the land down under (Aus) EVERYTHING is like double the price. God damn shipping charges! 

I did end up watching Divergent at the movies (meh) and I had a total embarrassing fangirl moment when I noticed they had put up a How to train your dragon LIFE SIZE cut out of Toothless and Hiccup. I took so many selfies - I'm kind of ashamed of myself. 

Nope not ashamed anymore!

Toothless and I are soulmates! 

Now I am home again, I have my beloved pets surrounding me and I'm sipping down tea, just waiting for the work day to begin.