OOPS!

Wrong site! This blogger is no longer the official website of Kelly Varesio & Insperatus, and will no longer be updated. Please head on over to KELLYVARESIO.COM, the new website for all updates and information! Thanks!

Monday, May 4, 2009

Insperatus is making it's way around the world!

Thanks for all the support from everyone!

Let me just say, it is quite the compliment to be told that my book is actually better than Stephenie's Twilight series. Most people don't know, and fail to inquire, that I've actually never read the Twilight series or ever watched the movie. Most people don't realize either that I was writing Insperatus around the same time Stephenie Meyer must've been writing Twilight, before it was anything at all. The timing of Insperatus' release seems to be working to my benefit so far, though. Being that I'm from NJ, to hear that Insperatus is being bought around the US as well as in other countries such as Italy, Canada, England, and so on, is the coolest thing ever.

My best advice to possible readers is that while Insperatus is NOTHING LIKE TWILIGHT, if they like that series, they'd like this, being that the genre is similar (although the storyline is set back about 150 years).

Insperatus also introduces a new concept of the vampire as well, one far different from Twilight, Anne Rice's stuff, and even Dracula. While I decided that the traditional vampiric qualities such as death by stake, injury by sunlight or garlic, and no reflection are things I definitely wanted to include, the vampire itself is treated more like a disease than anything else. Insperatus also includes various other supernatural entities that work within the sub-plots.

Last but not least, I am letting everyone know that I'm doing a little remodeling for my page, here. Kellyvaresio.blogspot.com will be where I post all my blog entries and news feeds, so check back often for updates as to where my upcoming signings will be, what is new with Insperatus, and even inside tips of all sorts.

Before I sign off, lemme just list my upcoming appearances: Saturday, May 9th, I will be doing a little signing at Don's Bagels in Glassboro, (my friend owns it), and one-on-one chat will be totally available, starting from 12; Saturday May 16th I will be doing a signing at Brenner's Brew, a coffee shop in Bridgeton, starting at 12 where I will also be reading excerpts from Insperatus; Saturday May 23rd I will be at the Hamilton mall's Border's Express doing a signing, also beginning at 12. My next and largest upcoming signing will be the weekend of June 19th, at the huge Wizard World Comic-Con in Philly, where I will also be sketching there as an artist, as well as signing and selling my book among other various artists and celebrities. {Just for a fun side-note, some of my artwork is posted on deviantart.com, under the name mstwennyfaahve--the link is attached on the side page.}

Thanks for checking in--more new posts are coming your way! Be sure, if you haven't already, to grab a copy of my brain-child, Insperatus!

__________|

1 comment:

  1. Oh Kelly, I'm so so happy for you! I've got 2 of my friends reading Insperatus also.

    Hopefully we get to see each other again when we come out there in the summer. We'll be there from the middle to end of July.

    Your work amazes me.

    ReplyDelete

~Insperatus Excerpt~

~Prologue~

The men’s drunken laughter and endless taunting filled the frigid air as a lantern was lit from around a darkened, stone corner. The shadowed guard moved back further into a bend by the dungeon cell, watching the flickering light of the lone lantern grow brighter, the smell of beer filling his nostrils. The light finally exposed the two inebriated sentries shoving a bloodied and shackled prisoner through the dungeon’s narrow hallway. The prisoner was a young man, perhaps in his early twenties, and his body was battered and bruised. As the lantern swung side to side, a swollen and bleeding bite mark could be seen on his neck.
The two sentinels staggered, each one holding onto an arm of the dragging prisoner. As they approached the last cell, by the shadowed man in the bend, the young prisoner was unceremoniously tossed into the iron-barred maw, collapsing upon impact. Locking the cell, they stumbled away, still laughing, and the lantern’s light faded off behind the corner.
The only form of light was that of the crimson-outlined moon filtering through a dusty, barred opening at the height of the cell. The young man, wet with sweat, moved to his knees and stared at his ghostly white hands. The guard felt faint as he watched the prisoner suddenly hunch over and grab his stomach. The writhing man in the cell was wincing and panting. The guard could tell he was trying to bear up despite having been battered by the soldiers. With blood dripping down his neck, the prisoner looked up into the dim light of the cell and let out a stabbing cry. Four of his teeth speared into a point, appearing lengthened and sharp. He felt them inside his mouth, hands shaking hard, a look of shock surfacing on his face. He was changing, and with each change came horrible agony. His pain was evident in his posture; he was bent and twisted. His light brown hair streaked darker.
The guard could see through filtered light that the prisoner’s once unobtrusive eye color was now a brilliant shade of red. The prisoner pulled himself to the other side of his cell where a dusty shard of a worn mirror was hung. His curiosity, despite his terror, was all that could have driven him to search his exterior, and the guard suddenly realized why he had been ordered by his own chancellor to place the mirror there.
Using the last bit of strength he had, the prisoner pulled himself up and looked into the mirror, but he shrank back with fear as he witnessed his strange appearance. As he brought up his hand to feel the mirror, he realized that his reflection was slowly vanishing; soon, there was no reflection at all. He had only a moment to see himself as a strange apparition. He was now a pale and gruesome sight.
The guard could not help but feel pity for the man. The prisoner’s expression had gone from fear to something strangely numb. The captive slid his trembling hands over his stomach, to his chest, and stopped. His breathing—his panting—ceased. His hands rested there until he panicked; he could feel nothing, his heart was not beating. He turned with revulsion and eyes cold as ice toward the watching sentry. The guard watched in abhorrence, with knowledge that the boy saw the guard’s own fear and antipathy within him. He dropped his spear at the sight of the young man and ran off behind the corner.
The prisoner’s eyes had glared at him so questioningly. The sentry heard the man still: panting heavily, cursing whoever heard, and yelling for answers.
But neither the guard, nor anyone else ever answered his echoing screams.

~Chapter 1~

The town was filled with the common bustling and busyness of life. Ladies held umbrellas high to shade their delicate skin from a blistering sun, and gentlemen walked with them, their suits fashioned to please. It was a rather common-man town, but it was a wealthy one nonetheless. The houses were quaint and lovely; gates were swung open and carriages were stationed elegantly along the roads; fields stretched across the plains with horses running blithely among the moss. In the midst of the town activity, the town’s surgeon ran the hospital, the bank was flourishing, the grocer and baker’s shop were eventful, the wine house and auction barn had its customers. There was even a learning institution near Sherwood Street called Barnard that was thriving.
It was May of 1843, and just past the boarding school, across the railroad tracks, Rein Pierson bent over to brush the dust from her dress. She stood straight, looking up at the sky and squinting. The weather in Teesdale was warm and the sky was clear, but it was dreadfully windy, and she had no umbrella or hat to shade her. She did not mind the sun, however, or darkening her skin in it. The weather was too gorgeous to hide from.
Despite enjoying the sun, the wind was so frustratingly fierce that it stirred the dirt from the road high into the air, making her cough. Her hair had been pulled back in a chignon, but she realized she had not made it tight enough. All she could see were the black, wavy wisps of her hair pulled from their placement as they tangled and blew into her eyes. Pushing them behind her ears, she lifted her dress above her ankles to walk across the wide, dirt road.
Opening a large iron gate, she saw old Jonathan Kendrick tip his hat to her. He was hunched over and sweating while raking his yard, as he did every day, around his prized flowers and small trees. He chose to do it himself over his servants.
“Good day, Rein,” he said to her as he propped his arm on the rake, wiping his tanned forearm across his face.
She smiled back in greeting. “Afternoon, Mr. Kendrick. How are you today?”
He glanced up at the beaming sunlight, his heavily wrinkled eyes bunching up. He laughed looking back at her. “Ah, I’m well, dear girl, not granting the sun being hotter today than it should be, but I can see you do not mind it.” Rein smiled as he took another break of laughter. “Is it Saria you’re looking for?”
“Yes,” she replied, shading her eyes with her hand. “Is she home?”
“She’s most likely waiting for you, dear girl! Check around by the garden. She spends all day in that garden of hers behind the estate.”
Rein smiled at him again and thanked him with a nod. She let go of her dress, letting it fall and drag in the dirt, and walked around the back of the estate into the garden.
Saria, a small, thin girl, sat in the garden with her head tilted to the side. She was almost hidden between the ivy and the different sorts of flowers she was watching from the bench. Her parasol was high and her bonnet large, shading her well from the sun. Her dark, braided hair was neatly tied in a ribbon, and she was in a most elaborate dress. She motioned for Rein to come near, but as she approached Saria’s face grew grim with shock.
“Rein!” she called with frantic distress, sitting tall and slapping her hands on her thighs. “Dear Rein! What are you doing to your dress?”
Rein looked down at herself and laughed a little. “It is an old dress, Saria.”
“An old dress especially! It is much too beautiful and antique to be dragging in the garden! Look at the bottom of it—already filthy!”
Rein blinked a few times as her hair blew into her eyes again. “Why do you worry so about my dress?” she asked, taking a seat next to Saria on the garden bench.
“Oh, please do not make me say it!” Saria huffed with intolerance.
Rein smiled. “I merely came to ask you if you’ve spoken with your father yet.”
“About what?”
“Oh, please, Saria, the trip! Have you spoken to him about the trip?”
Saria looked bemused for a moment, but then sighed with a giggle. “I did, I did, yes. Have you written to your own father?”
“I don’t need to write to him,” Rein answered impatiently. “He is still in France, and I’m sure he won’t respond. He hasn’t for fourteen years.”
Saria looked sad for a moment. “You want this much to leave?” she asked with a sigh. “America is beautiful, I am sure, but I do not think your idea of leaving England for it is suitable enough for my parents.”
Rein stared down at her feet. “It isn’t that I want to go to America. I just want to see the ocean, on a ship. Visit a place far from here—”
“Oh, Rein! Can you not give up these dreams of yours? We’re meant to be here! We are barely even allowed to travel around the town, let alone to another country!” She sighed. “Rein, it’s hard to have a serious conversation with you when you are so careless and obstinate about your attire! Look at you; you’re dustier than an ox! Your beautiful face is filthy and your dress—”
“Is dress all you can think about?” Rein asked with a moan. Her smile won Saria over. “I’ve looked into it,” she continued on, forgetting Saria’s distaste. “I’ve spoken to Mr. Harold, the baker, and he said he’s been there. It's wonderful. He said there is a port as close as Easington.”
“But we have no reason to go,” Saria replied, her green eyes looking hopeless. “Can I do nothing to change your mind?”
“Saria, it’s only a trip. Only for a little while. Imagine seeing the ocean on a steamboat! Wouldn’t it be wonderful?” Rein looked at Saria’s father on the front lawn. “I have no one to stop me from going. My father has no choice. I have been out of Barnard long enough to do what I please. I have the money.”
“You know that my parents tried very hard to get you out of that boarding school to live with us, but your father—” Saria cleared her throat, and then she smiled. “And I must agree, Rein, that I would enjoy a trip away from here.” Her smile became mischievous. “And I am going with you…I’m just trying to persuade you to stay.”
“Persuade me to stay?” Rein repeated, still pushing the lingering thought of Barnard from her mind. “Why persuade me?”
She slid her hand across her head to make sure her hair was in place. “I don’t know. I just think it’s an insensible notion. I do want to go with you, though.” With a bite of her bottom lip and a teasing smile she pulled three pieces of paper from her hand purse.
“I’ve even made arrangements,” she said slyly.
Rein’s eyes widened and she smiled with overjoyed delight. “Tickets? You have tickets? You rag, Saria! You love to torment me, don’t you? Well when? When are we going?”
“Tomorrow! I’ve talked to my father and he’ll take us. Well, to the ship, anyway. Edgar, one of our senior butlers, is going to come with us. But knowing him, he’ll leave us plenty be, and—”
“Saria, that’s so wonderful!” Rein said, hopping off the bench and throwing her arms around Saria. “You already have tickets—my goodness!”
“Apparently it’s one of the finest ships there are,” Saria said, pulling away. She looked down and brushed off her bodice. “Oh, Rein! Look what you’ve done, hugging me like that! My dress is nearly covered in dirt!”
“I don’t have a bit of dirt on me,” Rein said with frustration. “I don’t understand why you pester me so much!”
Saria sighed and then giggled, throwing her arms around Rein despite the dirt. “Oh, I love you just as you are, Rein! You beautiful piece of God’s creation! You should just learn to work with your beauty instead of working against it. If only we were blood sisters, perhaps I’d have a slight chance of having as much beauty as you!”
“Don’t say such a silly thing, ever. You’re perfectly handsome! And tomorrow will be fine—great!” she said with a laugh, turning and making her way toward the front of the house. “We’ll have so much fun together! It will be worth it, I promise.”
“I am sure it will be.”
“My! I have to pack!” Rein burst with excitement. “You will enjoy it, won’t you?” she called, turning around to face her friend.
“Yes, of course I will. It just isn’t common for women to leave home. We have everything we need. I’m not yet nineteen and you’re barely twenty. We’ve still time to find nice gentlemen, marry, have children—” Saria stopped abruptly. “Oh, my! Nice gentlemen will be absolutely abundant on a steamship, won’t they?” She clapped her hands together. “And any on a steamship ought to be rich, too, you know.”
Rein shook her head with a grin. “Sometimes your intentions worry me.”
Saria laughed. “Well then I shall meet you at your gate a little after noontime with my father. Is that all right? Then we can have lunch before we go.”
“That’s perfect,” she returned. With a wave of her hand, Rein turned and exited through the iron gate, full of excitement for the next morning.

~Chapter 2~

The sky was black with night, and the combination of the ocean mist and the downpour was freezing on Rein’s face. There was a beautiful full moon that lit the ocean’s surface enough to see the boat’s reflection in the water. But a thick fog made it hard to see any farther than a yard or two. Despite the chilling downpour, the waves were rather calm. She shivered; her skin was crawling with chills. She was on the small boat with only Saria, Mr. Kendrick, Edgar, a skipper, and a small rowing crew. Despite the terrible weather, Rein did not complain about having to ride on a dinghy for a few miles to the new steamship that would eventually take her to America.

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