First Grave On The Right Review

Hi readers,

When I saw this book supported by one of my favorite authors, as well as another author I enjoy reading, I thought I'd buy it and see what it was like. It's been on my bookshelf for a little while now -just like Highgate Vampire- and I thought I'd carry on reading through my top shelf with First Grave. I believed it was the first book in a trilogy, but now I know this is actually a series, with the seventh book coming out  this autumn. So, has the first left me keen to get my hands on the others and read through yet another series? Let's find out.

Darynda Jones, an American writer has so far written this series and a young adult trilogy. She has won a lot of different awards for her writing. She started writing at a young age and after giving it up to do a number of different jobs, including teaching and have a family, she started writing again with the goal to become published.

First Grave is about Charley Davidson, a grim reaper and a PI. She spends all of her time hanging out with ghosts, solving cases for the police and clients, drinking a lot of coffee and wondering about the mysterious Reyes. Along for the ride with her is her dad, uncle, best friend/PA Cookie and ghost teenage boy, Angel. The main plot of the novel is that Charley has to solve the murder of three lawyers, which also ties into a human trafficking ring, another murder, a missing teenager and a wrongly jailed man. The subplot, which in places seems to become the main plot, is about Charley's 'relationship' with Reyes, who also turns out to be her guardian. Reyes, who's in a comma, visits Charley in spirit form and they have a bit of bedroom time throughout the novel. So, yeah the grim reaper makes love to a ghost/ astral projection. She also sets out to find more about him as his records are seemingly very empty.

The narrative is told in first person, present tense by Charley herself. A lot of her character comes through because of this, but the problem is that it becomes something of a burden on the plot. She is over sarcastic, too witty, trying too hard to be sexy and seems to over exaggerated lot. Her sense of humor was also lost on me. Maybe, I am being a bit too harsh, but I just feel like she became unrealistic because all these things were too over used in the novel. Also, I got tried about hearing her addiction to coffee. Beside from all that though, Charley makes an interesting grim reaper. I'd have liked to have found out more about how she came to be one, but that's actually something she doesn't understand herself. Maybe in further books this gets looked at?

It's not just her character that has problems though. The love interested, Reyes didn't work for me. The description of him was a little bit 'too perfect dream boyfriend,' for my liking. Later, it's suggested he might be a supernatural being and that's a possible reason why he looks like he does. However, he just didn't come across as being a strong enough character for me. Okay, so he is in this ghost form and Charley can't see him very well. He speaks very little and to me beside the bedroom action and being overly protective, doesn't display any other signs of love for her. Maybe this gets stronger in the other books though? His other problem is that he's the subplot and because its a first person narrative, there's not much about him and it's bias.

The other characters: Charley's dad and uncle, Cookie, Garrett- a skiptracer, who fancies Charley-and the ghost lawyers, come across a lot better and more realistic. Though they are the supporting characters, they all have their own uses and Jones does this really well. Their backgrounds also seemed to be very detailed and sometimes their own goals also come across. There is tension between a few of them and Charley at different points, but this just adds more and allows their natures to come through.

Overall, I did enjoy reading this novel. It was slightly different from my normal books because it had the crime and detective elements, which have never really interested me. The supernatural elements keep me very entertained though. I did have issues with the characters, though I was well into the book before this happened. I'd be interested to read the second book to see if there were improvements to the characters and plot. I'd recommend this novel if you like this genre or are into similar. If not still give it a try and see what you think.  

Image From:
http://thegreatthegoodandthebad.blogspot.co.uk/2012/01/first-grave-on-right-by-darynda-jones.html

Additional information from:
http://www.daryndajones.com/bio/

Links to me

Hi readers,

Here are a few links were you can follow me: 

http://www.readwave.com/hayley.hardman.7/ 

(For short fiction/non-fiction stories) 

http://www.pinterest.com/

(Images that mean something to me) 

https://twitter.com/ironmaidenfan9

(Updates and ramblings)

https://www.linkedin.com/profile/view?id=208056472&trk=nav_responsive_tab_profile

(business profile)

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCHXL_MiDsFRX8cbqYt03DIw

(Watched videos)

http://blip.tv/tyas

(My boyfriend's show which also has me reviewing stuff in it) 

Image from: http://mlhprimary.co.uk/parents-carers/links-resources/

The Vampire of Highgate Review

Hi readers,

When I first heard about the Highgate vampire I was really interested to know more. So, when I found this book on sale at The Works, I was eager to read it as it claims to be based upon the true events. London's Highgate cemetery is a fascinating place and a lot of odd things have happened there. Most are probably not true and who really knows about the others? As much as I want to get into the review, I thought it might be interesting to have a brief look at the cemetery and the story of the vampire. The book goes into some details, but it left me hungry for more!

Highgate Cemetery was opened in 1839 and was a part of London's plan to provide more cemeteries outside the inner-city. It soon become a fashionable place to be buried and become home to the rich and famous. The Victorians were really into their Gothic tombs and headstones. The more fancier your headstone or family crypt displayed how much wealth you had. In 1854 the cemetery was expending and become divided into two areas; the west and east sides. Today, the east area is closed and only open to the public via a tour group. This is because it has become a nature reserve, has listed buildings and old structures so it needs protecting. The west side is open to the public and for a small charge you can visit during daylight hours. (See the website link to Highgate.org below for more information).

The Highgate vampire story or urban legend begin in the 1970's, when supernatural events were attributed to a vampire. It sparked a media frenzy, books were written and people hunted the vampire. It is claimed that an occult interested group of young people liked to roam through the cemetery, which had been come very overgrown, dilapidated and vandalized. One of the members spent the night in the cemetery and afterwards wrote about seeing a ghost. When he asked if others had seen anything odd, people replied with claims of seeing a variety of ghostly figures. A second man reported that he believed a vampire king lived in the cemetery. The vampire had been a Romania medieval nobleman who'd practiced black magic and he'd been brought to England in a coffin by his followers in the 1700's. He'd been buried in the area which then become Highgate cemetery. The man then claimed that Modern Satanists had roused the vampire and to vanquish him he needed to be he staked and have his head cut off and burned.

There was never any real evidence and though the second man wrote a book The Highgate Vampire (1985) containing his account and how he actually killed the vampire. It still doesn't mean that anything actually happened or was seen. However, the urban legend become the inspiration for other books, movies and people. Today, some people still believe that there was and/or still might be a vampire lurking in the cemetery. 

Hence, the inspiration for The Vampire of Highgate (2012). It is a young adult novel by first-time novel writer Asa Bailey. He is a British writer-director and he's worked on a number of movies as a writer, editor, producer and director. His bio says he was fascinated by vampires and the Gothic from an early age. The novel's prologue states that a London taxi driver told him the urban legend on his way back home one night. 

The novel's plot follows the main character Kathy, as she travels from New York to London in search of her family. However, she discovers that her sister has disappeared and might have been kidnapped by vampires and that this has something to do with the Highgate Vampire. She also finds out that she is a vampire hunter and that she must face all the vampires to save her sister. She has dreams/visions which guide her and she receives a book sent from her sister, which contains information about vampires. 

Whilst, the plot at first seems interesting it relays on coincidences and obvious twists to see it through. Ever event and plot point seems to work out far too nicely. To me this means that some of the realism gets lost and that there's not much of a mystery to things. Overall, though the plot does work and it does grab you enough to keep reading till the end. There are linking in sub-plots, which focus on the background of other characters and the victims of the high gate vampire. These are marked by a changed in the date and often appear at the beginning of the chapter. They give out some information, but for me I felt they digressed and it slowed down the flow of the story too much. I'd have liked this to be more incorporated.

The characters are well described and developed. Kathy and her sister Amber have large roles in the novel as well as their aunt and a vampire hunter. The vampires seem to be on the side and though there is a lot about them, for me I'd have enjoyed this book more if it was told from their point of view. The sub-plot of the vampires is that they know that the sister know where the Highgate vampire, who is their king, is hiding in the cemetery. He is been trapped there and comes out to feed every ten years if possible. The vampire leader kidnaps the sisters and makes then show him the right tomb, so that he can release the king. 

The narrative is very structured and simple, which is understandable for the young adult audience. I did enjoy this because it meant that more was left to the imagination and I could read the novel faster. However, I felt it needed more description in some areas, just to improve the writing. The dialogue also felt a little un-real for me. It was too simple, too many questions/answers and to obvious in establishing what was going on.  

Overall, I'm rating this novel as a good read. It's suitable for adults as well as teenagers. It has good characters and an interesting plot. For me I wanted a little bit more, but I did enjoy reading it and it captured the urban legend of the Highgate vampire nicely.          

Ps. I've a Goodreads profile so feel free to follow me on there as well as here. Thanks. https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/7400715-hayley


Image From:
http://chocolatechunkymunkie.blogspot.co.uk/2012_07_01_archive.html

Additional information from:
 Wiki -http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Highgate_Vampire
http://highgatecemetery.org/

The First Wheels On The Road

Hi readers,
I've been so busy reading, writing, researching, volunteering and watching The Vampire Dairies season 1, Its' felt like I've had no time for anything else! This week I also took a massive step forward in my life. I had my first and second driving lessons. So, I thought I'd write about that as I've not finished the book I wanted to review this week. Also, that means I can make this post a short one!

So, I've been thinking for awhile that I should look at learning to drive. Time and money have always been against me though, so now that I've a good supply of both, I decided to look into starting. My first hurdle was choosing who to go with. There are a lot of driving schools and self-employed driving instructors out there. After doing some research, I picked a local self-employed instructor, but it turned out he'd retired. So, after much more fussing about, I decided to choose the AA. Actually, my boyfriend helped me to make the leap and I phoned the AA to discuss the price of the lessons.

Suddenly though, I found myself booking my first lesson and having it for Monday afternoon. Of course I could have said no, but I thought that if I've got more time to think I'll only talk myself out of it. Problem was I then spent the weekend with my mind on it and my emotions all over the place. Finally though the time arrived and I met my instructor outside my house. He turned out to be really nice and understanding about my needs.

We drove to this industrial estate and then he got me into the driver's seat. I was really panicky. It felt wrong in a way to sit behind the wheel as I didn't have a clue what I was doing. My instructor was calm and started asking some questions to test my knowledge of the car. I was worried  I'd get it all wrong, but it turned out I did know a lot more then I thought I did. After that and going through some more information about the controls of the car, I got to turn on the engine.

I then got to practice starting and stopping the car. It was really weird to be doing that and driving a little way. It did turn out to be easier then I thought it was going to be, but its still a difficult thing to do. Afterwards, I booked some more lessons and arranged to have two a week. That's not because I want to speed through learning to drive, its' because due to my short term memory problem, its all going to take awhile to stick. The fastest way of doing that is to keep doing the task and not having a large gap of time between doing so. Hopefully, this well help and I'll be able to remember all the steps.

I had my second lessons yesterday and I did feel like some of it had stuck with me. This time I got to drive the car around in a circle. I learnt how to change gears, though I wasn't very good at it! That's so going to take sometime to stay in my head. However, I did drive around a roundabout and other cars/lorries. I do seem to have a problem with corners too and I so need to get the flow of the road better. I shouldn't be so hard on myself though as I'm progressing. I'm sure that after some more lessons, I'll be better and more confident.

I'm looking forward to doing more driving and then officially become able to drive. It feels like a right of passage in away. Like another part of become an adult, which is an odd way to put it, but still. It'll give me that independence and freedom too, well as long as I get a car afterwards! but that's all far in the future.

I did wonder before how I could tie writing a novel or short story into this post. In a weird way, writing and learning to write is kinda like learning to drive car. You've got to take the leap and start out somewhere. It won't happen if you don't do that. Then you just need to take all the teaching in and put things to practice. Then you've got to stick to it and carry on. Then you just continue like that and keep improving the writing and doing research to make it right. In the final stages, you send it out onto the world and test it and yourself. Then if it gets published, you pass.

I'm really looking forward to my next lesson on Monday, but right now I've got more things to go and write.
Till next time.

Image from: http://dailycars-us.blogspot.co.uk/2011/08/new-ford-focus-joins-aa-driving-school.html

Creative Writing Courses Online.

Hi readers,

It's been awhile since I wrote again, but unfortunately I've been ill and busy and not reading much. That's why this week's post isn't a book review, but still links in with the theme of my blog. I recently signed up for and this week started an online writing course run/partly by the Open University. My mum suggested it to me as she had been looking into it as part of her offices' writing poetry for nurses' day activity. The main focus is on creating characters, so I thought I'd give it a go and see what happens.

Its' been awhile since I last talked about writing courses and it'd been interesting to see if my views have changed about them. Actually, though I wanted to focus to be more about people/writers who'd already taken course/s on writing, ( no matter what they were) and weren't new to doing a creative writing course. I know this might leave a few readers out so I thought I'd go briefly write something for the new people afterwards. Okay, so, this is going to run into an A&Q post, but it seems the best way to write it.

Question 1: why if you've already done a creative writing course be it at uni level or equal too or just online etc, would you want/need to do another?

Answer: for lots of different reasons. It could be that the course is looking at one element of creative writing that you want to improve or be introduced too. For example you might be a poet, but you have an interested in travel writing but don't know much about it, then you could find a course tailored to met that need. Due to the fact that there are a lot of different subjects and they divided into different topics that make up a general creative writing course, it means that each course can offer different things and focus or main theme subject matters. The course I'm on for example does contain all the information a new writer needs, but its key theme is creating and developing characters.

Another reason might be that you've taken a break from writing -like I have and you want to get back into it but you don't know where to start. Plus, you need some motivation and to just go back through things. Courses can be really good for this. There one aim is always about getting you to write and getting you confident about your writing. The questions and assessments they give you can help get you back in the mode and time management for writing. It also allows you to make new connects, which are always useful to have. Adding into this is if you did a course a long time ago and you need to update your knowledge.

Question 2: How useful can it be to take another course? 

 It really depends on if its' suitable for you and if you put in as much as you can. For me, writing has always been something that can't really be taught, similar to other creative areas. Yes, you can learn about, but the talent and determination needs to still be there at the end. I also believe that you never stop learning and with Creative Writing being so broad this seems very true. Some writing courses wouldn't be much use to me now as I already know the basics and a lot about the publishing industry. However, a course that is focused on online-publishing or writing horror fiction might be still be useful to me because those are the areas I'm looking at and weren't that focused on at uni.

As an add to this going to public talks and readings to can be really useful. I can learn a lot about a certain subject and meet new people. You can also get inspired too and it's great to support other writes and teachers in this way.

Questions 3: Online or classroom?

I think this just depends on the course and yourself. I've got experience with both. I enjoyed going to classes and physically meeting up with tutors and friends. Certain environments can allow you to do more work or become more focused. I would love to go back to uni and do an different or related course, but I've not got the money to do so. Doing an online course paid for or free, is actually become more popular and I'm already seeing the benefits of it. Being online means that you can go at your pace and fit it in at a good time for you. So, there's no worrying about being late or missing things. A lot of people from around the world can get on the course as most of the time there's no number restrictions. You can do it all from home or from anywhere with a computer and the internet. You are still able to talk to the tutors and other support staff as well. Lastly, the qualification you might get isn't that different from a classroom on.

Question 4: Course or Writers' Retreat/Holiday? 

To me these have always been different things. A course is were you learn and the writers' retreat is where you go to get the space and time to write. I've seen some writers' retreats that do run classes and readings. But most of the time they do seems to be for someone who is currently writing and wants sometime to continue to do so. Most of the time there are other writers there for you to meet as well. Once again this depends on what you are looking for.

Question 5: Can I run my own writing course?

This is a tricky one but I was thinking about it before. The answer is technically yes. Though it does help if you some experience and a qualification in teaching to start with. Also, having stuff published can be a big element. Where to teach and how much to charge, is something I've not really looked into. However, I'm still trying to get a writing group set up at the youth center, though I'll probably won't get paid for that. I did know someone who went into prisons to teach creative writing. Schools might also be interested. I think it'd need some research and connecting the right people.

So, I've pretty much answered everything I had my head now. Hopefully it's also give you more insight into writing courses. It really does come down to what you want to get out of it and how you want to study. I'm really wanting to get back into writing my novels and meeting other writers. I miss how we motivated and support each other and that can be a large part of the writing process. It's also easier and cheaper for me at the moment. One thing it's also allowed me to do is find a use for these notebooks I  made. Though I fear I might need some more soon!

New writers

I want to do a writing course where do I start?

I'd so recommending doing some research into the different courses out there. Also think about how much time you can commit to and if you can offered to do it. Plus, traveling and other living expenses. Uni and college courses can be very expensive now. Of course you don't have to do a writing course to start writing and self-publishing. There's lots of information and helpful people on the internet and just doing that might be more useful to people then taking a course. but if you really do want to do it then I'd say look at doing a uni course or the equal to it. Doing a whole course like my BA Hons one meant that I could write a whole range of different things, I could also work in the publishing industry or do things like editing and making content online. There are ones that are tailored or more focused on certain parts of writing. So, it just depends what you want to do.


Images from:
http://chalkthesun.co.uk/?page_id=51
Handmade note books; Author's own.