Wednesday, 26 June 2013

Guest blog by a fictional vampire baby

By Gaius Julius Rex
I wear a cape made by my foster mother, Theodora Rex.

My name is Gaius Julius Rex and this is my first blog ever. (I taught myself to read and write shortly after my fictional birth in April.) (I am not lying.)

I had intended to provide a treatise on the early Greek roots of rhetoric, but the human blogger Lucianne Poole insisted on something short and journalistic. I am unfamiliar with this style of writing, having started my education with the classics. The human has proposed a "question and answer" format. I have reluctantly agreed and hereby present a series of questions and answers:

1) Do you sleep like the undead?
Yes.

2) What part of a chocolate Easter bunny do you eat first?
The head.

3) Do you fly?
No.

4) Do you drink blood?
My lawyer has advised me not to answer this question.

5) What do you do for fun?
When I'm not playing Monopoly and trampolining, I ride up and down Las Olas Boulevard (in my hometown of Fort Lauderdale) on my tricycle looking for Monopoly players and professional trampoliners. My foster mother, aka Theodora Rex, aka T. Rex, says this is unsavoury. I asked her what "unsavoury" meant. She said sleazy. I asked her what "sleazy" meant, but she did not reply.

6) What do you want to be when you grow up?
a) professional Monopoly player
b) the first to trampoline to the moon (this means building a special trampoline to catapult me into space)

This is the end of my blog.

The human, Lucianne Poole, advised me to invite comments and questions, but I'm not sure how this works or if I really want to do this.

Wednesday, 15 May 2013

Vampire baby speaks

By Lucianne Poole

Sketch of a traditional crib crossed out and a stone sarcophagus with a check mark
Suitable vampire baby sleeping arrangements.
"I'd like to set the record straight," declared vampire baby in his first wide-ranging interview, which he would only grant on the condition that I, who gave him fictional life, play a game of Monopoly (U.K. version) with him.

The newborn became a local cause célèbre after being found on a Fort Lauderdale beach following a Vampire spring break.

A regular bouncing baby

"I mean, I'm no different to any other kid," confided the six-week-old who looks more like a four-year-old. "I eat, sleep, speak several languages and trampoline with world champions. I don't know why reporters are lined up at my foster parents' door," he complained while gnawing on the custom-made marble game pieces.

The name game

"Apart from the ridiculous name I've been given, I'm perfectly normal. But seriously, who calls their son Gaius Julius?"

Vampire baby paused to swig from a bottle containing an unidentified red fluid, and then asked me what I thought of the name Jay.

Meet the parents

"Don't get me wrong. My foster parents, Tiny [Justinian Rex] and T. Rex [Theodora Rex], have been great. They even sent home to the family crypt in Italy for my very own child-sized sarcophagus. I have to say, though, T. Rex has this crazy grip like a WWE wrestler."

Trouble in paradise

The interview took a slight downturn when I bought up the two most expensive Monopoly properties. Gaius Julius' face turned a violent shade of purple and his eyes took on a murderous light.

He pounced, razor-sharp teeth bared. Fortunately, a long-fingered elegant hand clamped around his throat before he could reach me.

"Nap time!" trilled Theodora.

Neither of us argued with her.


Any questions for vampire baby? Leave them here. He is mildly curious about humans and may condescend to answer them (or not). I apologise in advance for his bad manners.

Tuesday, 23 April 2013

Vampire spring break: the baby

By Lucianne Poole

Sketch of a baby on a sunny beach.
The inevitable happened.

Just as I predicted, a holiday romance flourished and died while my fictional characters were on spring break. A beautiful, albeit monster, baby was born and abandoned on the beach by its flighty parents.

Fortunately, a childless retired couple fostered the vampire baby. The kindly Italians, who retired a few years ago to Fort Lauderdale, persuaded the community that they could manage the baby's voracious needs (authorities were reluctant to link a number of animal corpses on the beach to the baby's presence).

The foster parents are Justinian and Theodora Rex (affectionately known as Tiny and T. Rex). They are partial to mosaics and mini golf. Tiny is on the local hospital's board of directors, while T. Rex runs a few children's charities.

On a happy note, the baby (after a single month of gestation) is now learning Mandarin and Arabic (he thrives on challenge) and is taking trampolining classes (he likes to bounce).

Feel free to leave any advice to the adoptive parents of a vampire baby.

Meanwhile, future postings will be rather randomly scheduled (eg. once per month perhaps) due to the self-appointed monitoring involved in fictional fosterings. Thanks for your understanding. 

Wednesday, 27 February 2013

Vampire spring break

By Lucianne Poole



A photo of umbrellas and deck chairs on the beach in Rimini, Italy.
See if you can spot an ancient Egyptian on the beach in Rimini, Italy, one of Europe's most famous seasides. By L. Poole.
It's almost that time of year again: spring break.

I wasn't planning to but I've generously succumbed to my characters' demands for a spring break. Apparently, vampires and ancient Egyptians get the winter blahs, too.

Assuming I will have to resolve any trouble (such as centuries-old feuds and holiday romances) they get into, I anticipate being off-line for a while.

So, thanks for reading my humble offerings, and I should materialize back here sometime in April.

Where do you (or the monsters in your life) go for spring break?

Wednesday, 20 February 2013

Nine rules of reincarnation

By Lucianne Poole
A sketch of a stylized eye (called a wedjet eye) used by ancient Egyptians to ward off evil.
Here's a list of reincarnation "rules" that I gleaned from various sources while researching for my urban fantasy novel, The Obsession Begins.

According to The Concise Oxford Dictionary, to reincarnate (verb) means to bring the soul of (person) into another body after death.

In particular, my novel relates to rule number nine: sometimes it's better to avoid people from your previous lives!

  1. Every reincarnation gets you a new physical self, but your subconcious awareness contains knowledge of your soul and past life memories. From Discovering Your Past Lives by Gloria Chadwick
  2. Often a person will resemble their former self, especially the eyes or the expression in the eyes. From Old Souls: Scientific Evidence for Past Lives by Tom Shroder
  3. A birthmark could signify injuries or means of death from a prior life. From Old Souls: Scientific Evidence for Past Lives by Tom Shroder
  4. We all have abilities far beyond what we use. From Many Lives, Many Masters by Brian L. Weiss
  5. Check your vices (eg. greed, lust, etc) in the present life or you'll carry them over to another life. From Many Lives, Many Masters by Brian L. Weiss
  6. With each life you go through and don't fulfill your debts, the next one will be harder. If you fulfill your debts, your next life will be easier. From Many Lives, Many Masters by Brian L. Weiss
  7. When you have a problem with people or relationships, it is almost always due to negative karma you created in a past life. From Discovering Your Past Lives by Gloria Chadwick
  8. What you do to another person in a past life and in your present life, will come back to you until it is resolved. From Discovering Your Past Lives by Gloria Chadwick
  9. You may sometimes recognize someone from the past, but it can be a bad person, someone to avoid. From Past Lives, Future Healing by Sylvia Browne

What or who were you in a past life? Feel free to be perfectly honest or outrageous (as the mood takes you).

Wednesday, 13 February 2013

A Little Romance

By Lucianne Poole

Everyone wants to be loved, especially on Valentine's Day. That's when the illusion of love becomes particularly beguiling.

Ottawa photographer Maria Vartanova beautifully captures young love in this photo, but is it fact or fiction?

In fact, it's a scene from Arthur Miller's All My Sons. The play was performed at the Ottawa Little Theatre in January 2013 as part of its 100th season.

So if you are without a valentine on Valentine's Day, don't despair: call a loved one eg. your mom and be grateful for real love!


    

    Wednesday, 6 February 2013

    My anticlimactic bike accident

    By Lucianne Poole

    Sketch of a 10-speed bike
    I wrote this prose poem years ago when I was stuck in the humbling limbo that finds new and unemployed university graduates living with their parents in the 'burbs.

    I fell off my bike today
    On my parent's driveway.
    I grazed my knee.
    The flesh unbroken
    but angry red.
    My mother picked up my bike
    and pumped up the tires.
    I got back on
    and peddled tentatively.
    It was easier to balance.
    I am 23.

    Have you ever been involved in a mildly humiliating bike accident?