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Wednesday, April 12, 2017

Nathan's Private E-Journal - February 16, 2014 "My Odd Valentine's Day Adventure" Part- I

Perhaps 'Odd' isn't the right word for this entry, 'Most Unique' would probably be a better phrase to describe what happened this year.  Things certainly didn't go as I'd planned, but at least Lisa is speaking to me again.  She's given me the cold shoulder more than once over the years when I've broken one of my promises.  Heck who am I kidding, she doesn't give you a simple cold shoulder.  That girl can give you a look so cold it would make the iceberg that sank the Titanic turn green with envy. 


In fact we were visiting a zoo once when she shot me one of those looks.  We were standing next to the penguin exhibit, and I swear every bird in the enclosure closed ranks to keep warm like they do during an arctic storm.  Heck, I even tried joining them but they kicked me out as if to say, "Forget it, Pal!  You brought this on yourself and we're suffering for it, now go take your medicine."  
Needless to say I made nice with Lisa as quickly as possible, while preventing a new global ice age in the process.
So what does all this have to do with Valentine's Day?  Simple, I promised to spend it with her and... I didn't make it.  



In my defense I had a perfectly good reason for being two days late.  You see it all started about a week ago...

I was attending a symposium that was taking place in Tromso, Norway, where one of my old Alma Maters is located.  I had attended the University of Tromso - Arctic University about seven years ago, thanks to Otto.  He had told me about their Master's Program in Molecular Environmental Biology and thought it might help me gain some new insights to the symbiotic life form which shares and prolongs my existence.   
He also pointed out that the timing of the classes coincided nicely with the seasonal Polar Nights in Norway, which meant I wouldn't have to compete with the sun very much.  This suited me just fine of course, so of course I quickly enrolled.   
Looking back I can easily say I enjoyed my time there.  Not only were there some wonderful concerts, but also the location of Tromso offered some of the most spectacular views of the Northern Lights.    


Anyway, after the third day of the symposium, I was ready to move on.  I'd already listened to the speakers I was most interested in hearing from and didn't feel like hanging around the campus.  So I made my way into the main city to explore the architecture and other sights Tromso had to offer.  I had just made my way down by the water and was enjoying looking up at the Northern Lights when I heard a familiar jovial voice saying, "Ah, here you are.  I see you decided to play hooky instead of attending my presentation.”
Turning I saw Otto walking up to me.  He was shaking his head and making tsk-tsk noises.  I could tell already by his manner that he had something on his mind, and it didn't take a genius to figure out what it was.  Cleary he had learned of another possible Para-Earth incursion and he wanted me to come along to help make sure nothing came through that shouldn't and vice-versa.
And looking back at that last sentence I realize now that I just zinged myself but good.  In my defense, our latest adventure has left me a little giddy but once you hear what happened you'll understand. 

TO BE CONTINUED...  

Wednesday, April 5, 2017

Updates From Allan...


First I'd like to thank everyone who took advantage of my "Hobbit Birthday" party.  Over 30 copies of "The Vampyre Blogs - Coming Home" were snatched up.  While I would've loved to have seen triple digits, I'm not going to complain.  The book got into more readers hands and that is always a good thing in my opinion.  Hopefully, this will lead to some more reviews.  Sadly, Nathan and company have been stuck in the single digits as far as reviews go on Amazon, with absolutely none on Barnes and Noble, Kobo, and Smashwords.

So I'm going to offer everyone who is interested the opportunity to get a free copy of the book (Kindle, Nook, Kobo, PDF, even paperback) in exchange for a fair and honest review.  Reviews are important to bringing a book to a wider audience.  We all know that whenever we think about purchasing a book or almost anything these days, we check online to see what kind of rating the item has.  

Naturally, I'd love to see a lot of 4 and 5 star reviews, but I leave that up to the reviewers.  I ask for honest and I mean it.  If you found the book wasn't to your taste and you don't wish to leave a review, just let me know so I'm not left in limbo wondering what happened.   The only thing I ask is that the reading and the review be done within 2 months of you getting the book.  If by chance you volunteer and life gets in the way, again just let me know.  Life happens to all of us including yours truly, so no worries.  Just stay in touch is all I ask.

 On another note...



I'm happy to announce that there will be an anthology involving Nathan and friends, which will be released this December.  This volume will contain 'select' short stories from this blog.  The reason for this is that I've been told by a number of people that they find it hard and boring scrolling through a bunch of old blog entries to find the short stories, even though they really want to read them.  And since this blog is over two and a half years old, I know there's a lot of stuff to wade through.  

However, the anthology will not just contain stories from here, we are including 4-5 brand new stories just for the collection, which will NOT be reproduced here.  They will only be found within the pages of the anthology itself.  The total number of tales to appear in this first anthology has yet to be decided so stay tuned for more details.

In other news, book 2 of the Vampyre Blogs is now officially under way.


At this time "The Vampyre Blogs - Family Ties" release date should be early October 2018 (which is why I'm releasing the anthology in the meantime, so as not to leave you all high and dry without anything new).  The story will take place two weeks after the conclusion of the first novel and will open with Nathan's return, along with new trouble brewing.  

The presence of Isabella will raise new questions and concerns for all who dwell under his roof, while an unscrupulous developer tries to influence the upcoming town council elections so he can get his hands on 1000+ acres of land Nathan's home stands on.  Then there's Marisa's father. Are the cancer treatments he's receiving really helping or will Nathan have to undergo a procedure that could leave him more vulnerable than ever to an attack from an old foe he believed had been vanquished?

Stay tuned to this blog learn more.  And for anyone who wishes to be a reviewer, please e-mail me at:  
allan.krummenacker@gmail.com

Please include your name, e-mail address, and what book format you want and I'll be in touch with you shortly.

Thank you all for your continued friendship and support.  And rest assured the next entry to appear on this blog will be a brand new tale involving your favorite sci-fi vampyre and his friends.





Thursday, March 30, 2017

My "Hobbit" Birthday Party Is Officially Started...


The party has begun, we've got presents, cake, candle, plates and above all else a gift for you.  Namely a FREE Kindle copy of our latest book....


Just click on this link to grab your copy:



And don't forget to grab a slice of cake to enjoy while you're at it.  Remember, cake and reading go hand in hand, as does sharing this link with everyone you know.  The party comes to an end at midnight on April 3rd to spread the word and thanks for coming.

Saturday, March 25, 2017

****ALERT: HOBBIT BIRTHDAY COMING THIS THURSDAY MARCH 30TH - FREE KINDLE BOOK****

For those of you not familiar with a Hobbit Birthday Party it goes like this...

 
My birthday is coming up on March 30th, but instead of asking for presents I'm giving one away to anyone who wants it. The present in this case is a FREE Kindle copy of "The Vampyre Blogs - Coming Home"! The catch... none.

I simply want to get the newest installment of the Para-Earth Series into the hands of as many readers as possible, because word-of-mouth is THE best promotion tool out there.

So stay tuned and start spreading the word. It all begins on March 30th and will last until midnight April 3rd. That's a whole five days to grab a copy and meet the newest vampyre in town. What is he like?

For starts, he does NOT sparkle. He's much more your traditional style of vampyre: drinks blood, sleeps in dirt, shape-shifts (animals, mist, etc.). Best of all but he's a hundred and fifty years of fun with life experience both here and in other versions of Earth. Want to learn more?

You can check out some of the free short stories over at his Blog site:

https://thevampyreblogs.wordpress.com/


 
 Or take a sneak peek into the novel itself at:


So start spreading the word and marking your calendar to take advantage of this opportunity. You'll be glad you did...

Thursday, January 12, 2017

FOR NOOK, APPLE, SONY and NON-KINLDE USERS: "THE VAMPYRE BLOGS-COMING HOME" IS "FREE" UNTIL MIDNIGHT JAN 16th

That's right. From now until midnight January 16th, 2017, "The Vampyre Blogs - Coming Home" is FREE!

Written in the 1st person, in the style of Bram Stoker's Classic "Dracula", blog entries, newspapers, personal journals, diaries of key characters tells the story of Nathiel Steward, the last breathing, walking, Union soldier of the Civil War.

Changed after being blown into a Para-Earth by a stray cannonball during a battle, Nathan has wandered this world drinking blood and helping others for the last 150 years. Now, after learning his family mansion and estate are about to fall under the wrecking ball, he's come home to save it. But the lonely homecoming he expects becomes something much more. Someone has been waiting for him and is eager to be reunited with Nathan. But so is another... a being from that Para-Earth where he became a vampyre. It has followed him into this world with one goal... DESTROY Nathan and anyone who gets in its way...

Just click on the link below to get your free copy of this new blend of science fiction and vampirism. And remember to tell your friends so they can take advantage as well.



*NOTE TO KINDLE USERS:  you'll get your chance to get the book free as well. I'm not offering it now because Kindle Select rules dictate that in order to make the book "FREE" I have to place it in their program and once it is in it cannot be available in other e-book formats for several months. So sometime next month I'll be taking the book down from the other sites and place it into Kindle for several months. During that time the book will be available for "FREE" for 5 days. Stay tuned so I can keep you updated on when that happens. Thanks for your patience.

Saturday, December 24, 2016

Nathan Speaks: About the Authors, Christmas and the Future...

Merry Christmas Eve and a Happy Hannukah (which also begins tonight) to all our friends...  

For the past few months the entries here have been erratic and I want you all to know how sorry our authors (Allan and Helen) are for these issues.  However, life has gotten in the way in many forms during this time.  First, up until November, Allan was still taking full-time classes at CSU Monterey Bay and these were very demanding classes.  They ate up a lot of his time and his mental energies.  

Then in early November he received a job offer with the County of Santa Cruz in their Assessor's office.  As you all can imagine getting settled into a new job and learning all the ropes is no easy task and very consuming of both time and energies (especially mental energies).  However, the biggest obstacle since he started work has been the fact that his commute takes anywhere from 1 - 1 1/2 hours one way, on any given day.  He rises at 5:30AM and does not get back until 6-6:30 PM, which leaves him little time to spend with Helen, who has been dealing with a major FLARE up of her Fibromyalgia.  Naturally, he has been trying to care for her as best he can when he's available.  

However, these are not the only obstacles the two of them have had to deal with.  In addition to preparing for the holidays and guests, they have also been looking for a new place to live.  Until now, they have lived in subsidized housing at CSU Monterey Bay, but that is only available to students who are full-time!  Naturally, Allan can no longer be a full-time student while working full-time and caring for an unwell spouse.  So they are hunting for a new place they can afford during the holidays (not easy let me tell you).  But as they do so, they are aiming to cut down his commute considerably to give them more time together as well as time to write.

Naturally, this has left both of them with very little time to be creative.  Hence, the lack of updates or even a Christmas-themed tale.  Two stories were well under way, but are on the back-burner until a new place has been found for them to reside and then get moved and settled in.  So please bear with them as they try to get their lives back in order.

Finally, know that the stories and more novels about me, Lisa, Marisa, Otto and our other friends in the Para-Earth Book Series, are on the way.  The hopes are for two books to be released in 2017.  The first will be "The Door" which is a sequel to "The Bridge" and "The Ship".  In December an anthology of some of the stories that have appeared on this blog over the last 2 years will be released.  The anthology will also include several brand new short stories that have never been seen before.

During 2017, work on the 2nd "Vampyre Blogs" novels will be fully under way as well, leading to an anticipated 2018 release around Thanksgiving/Christmas.  I know that's a long way off, which is why more adventures will continue to appear on this blog, in addition to the anthology for next December.

I can also tell you cross-over stories involving myself, Lisa, Marisa, and Otto, as well as characters from the other 3 novels ("The Bridge", "The Ship", and "The Door") are in the works as well.  One or two of those tales will appear in the anthology, as well as novellas, and full-length novels.  So please be patient and hang in there.  Allan and Helen are very eager to get back to their writing and bring you more adventures to tantalize and thrill you all. 

In the meantime, we and they wish you all a wonderful holiday season and as a little bonus.  For those who had not realized, in addition to writing our stories, Allan is an accomplished artist and the artwork that graces each of the Para-Earth novels has been done by him.  So here I share some of his more holiday-based art.  We hope you enjoy these works and have a wonderful and magical holiday season:

First we have a European Father Christmas, he based on several different figurines of Santa Claus he found in antique shops:


Next we have a Robin on a Yule Log.  Robins are associated with Christmas quite heavily over in the United Kingdom, but for this piece. However, Allan chose an American style Robin (which is different from those in the England where his mother was born and raised), blending the tradition between the two countries.


And finally, we have this little piece which he titled "It Was Supposed To Be A Still Life".  This is true because, he had planned on doing a pastel piece of the presents and village he and Helen had set up beneath their tree one year.  Of course, after getting things just right, he went to fetch his art pad and soft pastels and came back to a scene much like you see here.  However, rather than getting angry and trying to set things up again, he simply sat down and got to work on the piece saying, "Hey, it's Christmas for kitties too..."

  
*Note: the coloring of the cat is based on his late father's cat Spikette, rather than his own feline mistress Avalon who was jet black and had been the one underneath the tree.  Originally he started out using Avalon's ebony coat, only to find it was too distracting to the rest of the piece, so he kept her attitude and behavior while substituting Spikette's colors for a more balanced piece.  He finds great comfort in having done this since both kitties are in Heaven now, although their spirits seem to occasionally visit and cause mischief around the house when one least expects it.  

That's all for now.  Enjoy the holidays and stay safe everyone.  If you must travel, may your journey be swift and fun, without worry or fear.  And we will see you all in the coming year.

Love,

Nathan, Lisa, Otto, Marisa, the rest of our extended family and of course our creators Allan and Helen Krummenacker


Sunday, December 4, 2016

****10,000 VIEWS AND GROWING ****


Thanks so much to all who have helped make this milestone happen! I had hoped to hit this mark by the end of two years and here we are! I'm truly grateful

I started this blog with the sole purpose of introducing the idea of a science-fiction vampyre who was truly similiar to the traditional vampires of lore. Nathan tries to avoid sunlight (although he can step out on cloudy and rainy days, and can actually walk in the light but only if he's loaded up on blood in advance since sunlight can dry him out to the point of becoming dust). He sleeps in the ground (because certain nutrients his body needs can only be absorbed from there). And he can shape-shift becoming a horde of rats, bats, dogs, mist, grow wings... but is restricted to how big he can do these things. He cannot make more than what there is of his physical being (law of mass). And of course, he is extremely long-lived.

The blog has been chronicling short stories about his long life and some of the people he has met over the last 150 years such as Mae West



the Marx Brothers,


Silent film stars like Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle and Buster Keaton


Ballroom dancer turned heart-throb Rudolph Valentino


And many others he worked with in Vaudeville before they became movie stars, along with others whose lives he's touched such as victims of the Nazi Holocaust and simple everyday people. There are also entries from the supporting cast who allow you to see Nathan through their eyes. Their stories show many sides to him and why he has come to be a guardian angel who has watched over not only them but in some cases their parents, grandparents.

To date there are over 41 short and somewhat longer stories on the blog, with many more to come. I plan on bundling some of the stories next Christmas as an anthology, since there are so many entries on the blog for people to wade through these days.





In the meantime, please share the blog link with everyone you know and then help them to check out Nathan's first full-length novel story "The Vampyre Blogs - Coming Home" where he comes back to his hometown Pointer, West Virginia. He has come back many times but this time its to stay to save the manor he called home from the wrecking ball, as well as the 1000 acres of pristine land which would fall prey to ruthless lumber companies and coal mining corporations.

Its a lonely homecoming, as far as he knows, but someone has been waiting for him to come back. Someone who saw him leave to fight in the Civil War back in 1862 and a year later died in his arms shortly after his transformation which occurred in a Para-Earth where he encountered two strange lifeforms. One which kept him alive, while the other wanted him destroyed... and still does. In fact, the latter has found its way into this reality and is now closing in on Pointer to finish him off once and for all for he's the only force that can keep it from absorbing all the dead in this world, even if it has to make more people dead to complete the job.

You can find the novel both in e-book and trade paperback form at Amazon, Barnes and Noble:

Amazon:

Barnes and Noble:

For Apple and Kobo readers use Smashwords:



Thanks again and stay tuned for more short stories to be posted soon, including some new holiday tales involving Nathan and his extended family. Until then, keep reading and writing my friends.