Wraiths: Pucker up. Guest Post with Erin Kellison

Erin Kellison is the author of the Shadow Series, which includes Shadow Bound and Shadow Fall. Stories have always been a central part of Erin Kellison's life. She attempted her first book in sixth grade, a dark fantasy adventure, and still has those early hand-written chapters. She graduated summa cum laude with a degree in English Language and Literature, and went on for a masters in Cultural Anthropology, focusing on oral storytelling. When she had children, nothing scared her anymore, so her focus shifted to writing fiction. She lives in Arizona with her two beautiful daughters and husband, and she will have a dog (breed undetermined) when her youngest turns five.

There is also a NOOK giveaway on Erin's Web Site, so go on over there and check it out! Also, win Erin's novels, Shadow Bound & Shadow Fall on the BWB. Click here.

Stalk the Author: Web | Twitter | Facebook 

And without further ado... here is Erin Kellison:

Wraiths: Pucker up.
My Shadow series (including Shadow Bound and its sequel Shadow Fall) is all about the creatures that exist at the brink of life and death. I guess I’m twisted that way. Spirits (Ghosts) are the souls of people who fight against moving on from mortality to the afterlife. They exist by will alone and cannot act on the mortal world (because they have no body to do so).

Wraiths are almost their complete opposite. They have bodies, but have given up their souls for immortal life. The longer they go without feeding, the less connection with humanity they have. They are inhumanly strong, with exceptional senses.  Where did I get the idea for them? Well, I’ll tell you.
When I was a kid, I watched a cartoon in which a young man walks down a country dirt road. He sees a really pretty young woman down the way and approaches her. She immediately puts her arms around him in an embrace. He is surprised. She puts her lips to his, but instead of making out, she sucks the life out of him. He ages rapidly, then falls to the ground, a near corpse. Lovely story, right? (By the way, I have no idea what the name of the cartoon is or even how old I was when I saw it or I’d give it credit here. If anyone can name it, I’ll give you a copy of both my upcoming releases. I’d love to see this show again. I’ve seen variations on this idea in TV and film, but would love to see the original cartoon from childhood.)

The story stuck with me, like a nightmare I couldn’t shake. BUT, as I grew up and the story replayed itself in my head time and time again, I started to think through the idea. A kiss, bringing death. Later, after acquainting myself with more and more fantasy, I named this creature wraith.  I picked up the idea for a wraith creature from this cartoon, so I owe it a big fat thank you. With one difference: The wraiths of my Shadow series don’t suck life-energy. They suck souls.

Here’s an excerpt from Shadow Bound showing the wraiths in action.  The main character is Talia O’Brien, who has a few special gifts of her own.  This is her first introduction to the wraiths. 


    The woman smiled with edged condescension. “Ms. O’Brien. It’s my honor to serve you. My master sends his regards and looks forward to meeting you in person.” She turned to her companion. “Finish that one quickly, Grady. We need to get going.”

    Grady lifted Melanie off the floor. 

    “Stop it!” The room was getting darker, but Talia couldn’t help it. “Put her down!” Melanie was almost purple. “Please let her go. I’ll do whatever you want.”

    “You’ll do that anyway,” the woman answered. “And Grady’s hungry. If he doesn’t eat now, he’ll be pestering me all the way back to stop for a little human takeout. And I can’t have that.”

    Melanie’s eyes flickered back in her head like some kind of waking REM.

Talia looped her arms over Grady’s outstretched one and put her weight into pulling them both down. He would not budge. He smiled at her efforts. She kicked at him. He seemed flesh enough, but he reacted like stone.

    The woman grabbed Talia’s shoulder and pulled her away with such unexpected strength that Talia stumbled backward. 

“You can’t hurt him,” the woman said, “it’s useless to try.” 

    Talia swiped at the tears of frustration blurring her vision. Please let this be a nightmare.

    Then Grady opened his mouth. Opened and opened beyond anything human. He bared his teeth, all sharply pointed and strangely extended, and pulled Melanie toward him. Mouth clamped over mouth. 

    Talia froze midbreath in horror. She felt a tug in her gut. A tug from a well of life and soul. Not hers, still seated snugly in her body. But an echo of Melanie’s self being ripped out, fed upon in a desecration of spirit that scored Talia’s mind and heart.

Utter blackness fell as Talia screamed.

 

Shadow Bound -- Featured Review

Death

Some people will do anything to avoid it. Even trade their immortal souls for endless existence.

Wraiths

Secretly, inexorably, they are infiltrating our world, sucking the essence out of unsuspecting victims with their hideous parody of a kiss.

Segue

Adam Thorne founded the Institute to study and destroy his monster of a brother, but the key to its success is held in the pale, slender hand of a woman on the run. There is something hauntingly different about Talia O’Brien, her unknowing sensuality, her uncanny way of slipping into Shadow.

Twilight

This is the place between life and what comes after - a dark forest of fantasy, filled with beauty, peril, mystery. And Talia is about to open the door( goodreads.com)


This was my first e book to read and I enjoyed the story and characters very much.

Talia is a Banshee and Death and her mother found a way for her to be born. I guess Death has been in love with her for some time. She has been at Death's door for many years, and he has been watching over her for many years.

Later we meet up with Talia and she is student hiding out from the wraiths in grad school. The last time she saw her father was when she was in accident at age 16 and that was the first time she screamed. He has been watching over her, even if he couldn't be there.

Adam has a lot money and lost his brother to the wraiths, and trying to stop them from attacking humans, and he has been keeping an eye on Talia and certain words that mention Shadow Man. There are photos of Talia.

Adam and Talia finally meet up and there is some attraction between them , but they are both fighting it. But on the run they finally consummate their attraction on the window in New York City. I mention it because it kept coming up with all the other fairy folks. I did enjoy the romance between them and it did seem real , but also it happened a little fast for me. It seems that many couples seem to fall in love on the run, and that to me seemed too fast.

Talia is also stubborn and doesn't want help, but Adam can provide help to her. Along the way they do fall in love.

I did enjoy this kind of characters(wraiths) there aren't too many of those in books.Overall I enjoyed the book, but at times it was difficult to read off the computer. I guess I'm old school in that I love the printed book.

Wraiths made me think also Stargate Atlantis bad guys. I know..those ugly looking people who wanted Atlantis for themselves. It also reminded me of this 80's Movie




Book Review =4

Thanks to the author for the book and this is my Honest Review

And the Camp Fire Continues

We are featuring the Shadow Series by Erin Kellison this week at the #BWB. And what better way to celebrate all this ghoulish and wraithlike -- a camp fire!

It's story-time at #BWB.   You are welcome to settle in, grab the marshmallows, and add your own story to the line-up. We want to hear your scariest camp fire story.

Here is Emily's:

Random fact about me- I was a Girl Scout for a really long time, right up until the end of my senior year in high school. We did all the things Girl Scouts would do- hiking, white water rafting, horseback riding, and, probably most memorably, camping! We camped all over the place- tenting, cabins, summer, winter, it didn't matter. While we were there, the campfire was definitely a huge part of the experience, and beyond that, so was the campfire singing. We all knew the same songs, but this one was a particular favorite:



Now imagine the refrains of that, drifting out through the trees in the middle of the night, with only the crackle of wood and the shifting of clothes to remind you that there's anyone around, anyone to hear you, anyone to stand in that moment with you. Sometimes solitude is the scariest thing there is.

Here is Rachel's:

I've lived in an honest to goodness, Haunted House. Some of you might have heard me tell this story before on various occasions...but I've had many a moment in this house.

The house had been in the family since I believe the 60s. My great-grandmother bought it as an investment house.  The house had already gone through some owners and the prior owner had added an odd addition to it, with an efficiency apartment attached to the back.  The house had at some point been built to accommodate WWII soldiers waiting for deployment. Then sold to the GenPop when it wasn't needed.  There were no reports of any deaths in the house, but something wasn't right.

There was the "running". Every evening at dusk the running would begin. It would happen from one side of the house. The tiniest bedroom and it would sound like someone was running around in there. Not a "raccoon in the attic" running, but a full on man in boots running in a raised wood floor house, running.

Then there was the incident with the jar of oranges. I had a decorative - Very Large - glass bottle full of orange slices on top of my refrigerator. It was nestled behind our German beer mugs. My step-sister who was about 13 was over visiting for a Mother's Day party that I was hosting and it seemed our ghost didn't like her much, because when she opened the fridge and bent down to grab a Diet Coke the bottle of oranges slid across the top of the fridge and landed smack on the back of her head. My brother watched as the bottle of oranges slid across the top of the fridge. The bottle shattered on the back of her head - it was absolutely horrible.

After we settled her down and washed the glass and oranges out of her hair, I grabbed a chair and looked on top of my fridge. There was a faint outline of dust where the jar had been. The trail that the jar had taken actually zig zagged around the two German mugs that were in front of it. There was no way this was an accident.

Shortly after this event (this was May 05 - so 3 months later), we evacuated for Katrina. That house was located on Louisville Street in an area of New Orleans called Lakeview. The levees broke about 10 blocks away and the house was under 13 feet of water. It went into the attic. I wonder what happened to the ghost. Do you think he haunts the overgrown lot? We actually just sold the lot also, will he make a reappearance in the house that will be built on that property??

Settle Around the Camp Fire with BWB

We are featuring the Shadow Series by Erin Kellison this week at the #BWB. And what better way to celebrate all this ghoulish and wraithlike -- a camp fire!

It's story-time at #BWB.   You are welcome to settle in, grab the marshmallows, and add your own story to the line-up. We want to hear your scariest camp fire story.

Here is Tinas:

Things That Go Bump in The Night

We’ve all felt it….that creepy feeling running down our spine…that little glimpse of something out of the corner of our eye. What if you saw something though that made you question your sanity…???  The second scariest thing that has ever happened to me falls between reality and maybe just a figment of my imagination.

I was 20 yrs old, just married and had a two year old, we had just moved into our first apartment and my husband was working third shift. It was late probably around 2 in the morning and finally after filling my head with frightening Stephen King stories, wondered off to bed….(rule number one don’t read scary stories before bed if your alone)……..

It took awhile to settle my brain down but I soon drifted into broken sleep. In the midst of in and out waking, you know that stage you’re in when you feel like your asleep yet still conscious, I suddenly got this overwhelming feeling that I wasn’t alone and that someone was staring at me. I was terrified, I didn’t even want to look near the door but knew I had no choice..... with the covers tightly around my head I peaked my face out into the hallway and sure enough there was an outline of a man in my doorway. In that instant I was paralyzed with fear ( I would be the first one dead in a horror movie) I couldn’t even scream or say anything I felt completely numb, the only thing running through my head was my baby in the next room…….It was the absolute fear of not being able to protect her or myself against some deranged killer.

The scariest part was the stillness and the facial features I could not make out, it was dark in my apartment but I should have been able to see his face with the nightlight in the hallway. After what seemed like an endless minute I shut my eyes tight willing the man to go away and when I opened my eyes he was gone…..It took me a moment to get my body to move, but  when adrenaline kicked in I flew to my baby’s room, where she was save and sound asleep…..the next  step was walking out into the living room and kitchen…I turned on every single light- my bedroom, bathroom, hallway even the laundry room….I grabbed an iron thinking I would use it as a weapon if I needed one but once I made it to the living room the apartment looked normal…that is until I saw the front door…………which was wide OPEN!!!!

To this day I’ll never know if it was a real man standing there watching me sleep or if it was my subconscious telling me to wake up and shut the door…..if it was the ridiculous scary story I had read or just maybe something else with no face……..

Julie's Story:

I was young girl, and my sisters and I made Ouija board out of cardboard. I think that we were around Middle school age. We knew it wasn't good to be playing with things unknown. So a couple times we did play with it and ask it questions like who are going to marry and where are we going to meet them? Is this boy at school in love with me. General kid stuff.

Well one time we were playing with it and something different happened.... I did ask who I was going to marry and it actually said my DH's name ( Jim)...I kid you not. Then it said I was going to meet him at Pop goes the weasel..in Idaho..that didn't happen. But I had my curling iron plugged in and not on..but during that time, the curling iron was turned...and no one had touched it. After that, we tossed the home made Ouija  board into the garbage can and never played with it again.

Thanks Julie & Tina for sharing your scary stories! I have goosebumps.  Eek. Tune in tomorrow for the rest of the gang chiming in...and if you want to share your stories leave it in the comments, or if you want me to post them tomorrow, email them to me at parajunkee at gmail.com.

Happy Hauntings, and don't forget to enter the two contests running for the Shadow Series by Erin Kellison...and the 500 Followers Contest.