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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!

Wednesday, July 29, 2009

So it's been longer than I thought...

Life is wild. It just is.

I'll give you a little insider on my authorian life. My family, friends, co-workers, and pretty much all acquainances attained as a normal eighteen year old girl, don't ever really see me as an author. To them, I'm just a nursing student, and...well, and eighteen year old girl. Even though most of my close people know I wrote a book, they rarely talk about it. And, ironically, I come from a family that doesn't particularly enjoy reading. Don't get me wrong--they're beyond proud, but after the first week of being published, their only question [when they do think of my book] is, "Oh! So how much have you made so far?"

Regarding money. Any author's usual deprivation.

So I've always loved the medical field, and I am very excited about nursing. But the college has this funny way of scaring students. I've already got homework due the first day that I've yet to do, and I have over 12 textbooks, 9 of them being nursing books. I was told I'm going to have to quit any job I may have, as the nursing course will be too rigorous for working. Therefore, I pretty much ought to be working as much as possible this summer...

But where does that annoying working world leave time for me to write? Or spend time simply being an 'author' for that matter? In a nutshell: it DOESN'T. You just have to somehow make time.

UNFORTUNATELY, that's been strikingly hard to do, lately. I haven't been able to promote Insperatus as 'rigorously' as I'd hoped so far this summer. While the booksignings I've had did do wonderfully well, I really desire to put my whole self into accumulating readers and showing the world what a unique read Insperatus really is. But it doesn't matter if it's the best book ever written--if no one knows about it, it won't go anywhere. So that's what I'm going to really focus on in all my free college time--and since I am a writer, and always will be, no matter what, I'll try my hardest to make that time.

Time to not only promote Insperatus, but to finish the sequel. Which is going well. Although I am having quite a bit of writers block, lately...

Lastly, for my readers (or future ones):

I'm going to put another Insperatus excerpt on this site! I've kept (and will keep) the prologue and first chapter available for reading on here, because it gives you a taste of the setting, background, and characters of Insperatus. But I decided to reveal a piece more in the middle of the novel--a piece that greatly differs from the excerpt placed up here so far. I hope that reading the new excerpt will entice those interested to pick up a copy of Insperatus--

--which is available for sale online on most all sites EXCEPT Borders.com now. It always takes them twice the time to reprocess titles. But in time, it will be there, too. :)


Until tomorrow--or sometime in the future--


-K-

PS--I've been thinking about some vampire concepts, variations, and similarities. Be sure to check in soon, because I plan on writing a little essay on my take, as well as other takes, on the curse that's taken over the world. The vampire.

Friday, July 10, 2009

E-Book Insperatus!

So, unfortunately, (as it sort of says in the right-columned box over there) Insperatus is currently being reprocessed on all websites [due to my publisher change], so I was told, between all the sites, it will take anywhere from 4 to 8 weeks for Insperatus to be available again. This sucks, I know, but I think it's only a short time to wait for something so huge. :) Remember that books are always available through me, at booksignings, and will soon be available on ebay through store sales.

Anyway, besides all that, there is good news. Another way, if you simply can not stand the wait of 8 weeks to order it online, you have the option of downloading an e-book version! The e-book is a new feature to Insperatus, and it allows readers to instantly access and begin reading on the computer, without the shipping or the wait. The e-book version of Insperatus is now for sale on sites such as booksonboard.com, lybrary.com, and various others.

Until next time... ___________|

Monday, July 6, 2009

What A Review!

I just wanted to share something with anyone checking out kellyvaresio.blogspot.com, for a minute. I attached a beautiful paragraph that I really feel compelled to share. It was written by someone I met at the Philly Wizard World Convention, who read my book, has kept in contact with me, and emailed me this wonderful statement:

~~~"I have been so fully engrossed in your delicious book, delicious might seem an odd word used to describe a book but it is actually a term I stole from my literature professor in college...her and I shared the same passion for the written word, and she coined the term delicious in referring to either a book, paragraph, or sentence that was so rich and creatively structured that you can taste it, it's those passages that are so very perfect that you feel every emotion and see every image as though you were the character. The thing I love most is that although [Insperatus] is a familiar genre, it is in no way cliche' or predictable, and you've created an entire alternative universe wherein your story takes place, this is not easily done, as you well know, it is a world of magic and mysticism, where vampires, witches, and werewolves do exist, but so historically accurate that it makes it seem like it could be true. I can tell that, in the books to come, you will continue to delve deeper in developing not only your characters but also this fantastic alternative universe, I hope that you will continue to include factual events in our history in your story and give alternative mystical explanations for certain things. ...To me your book has all the romance of James Cameron's Titanic, the unbridled passion of Twilight, and all the mysticism and adventure of Harry Potter, it is like all my favorite story teller's got together and wrote a book, you are so very talented and unbelievbly creative. I have not yet finished, I have about 20 chapters to go, and I am at the point where I cant wait to see how it ends but I dont want to rush it because I dont want it to be over yet, when did you say the 2nd book would be out? : )...Thank you so much for introducing me to [Insperatus]."~~~

To me, that is the most touching thing--to hear such amazing feedback from readers of my book. Thanks so much, Lisa!

____|

Saturday, July 4, 2009

So very busy...

This summer has come as the perfect time. After I was being pretty bogged down with school [exams were the worst] and work, I've finally had the chance to really focus back in Insperatus and think about what the best thing is for my book.

So I'm in the midst of contacting bookstores to order Insperatus in-store, contacting agents (which is super hard), and if I find a good agent then trying to be picked up by a huge publishing company such as Bantam Books or Simon & Schuster. Being a writer/author comes so easily to me, and it's something I will always do no matter if I'm published or not, but to really be a published author is a whoooooooole different ballgame; one that requires full-time attention and constant movement, or you'll suddenly find yourself really far behind the eightball.

Needless to say I have a huge to-do list, one that continually grows and never gets smaller, but it's something that I'm tackling with joy. I figure I've gotten this far, why can't I keep going? And if I could give my readers one assignment, it would be this: TALK. TALK about Insperatus, if you love it. The biggest reason good books don't sell is because no one KNOWS they exist, and the only way for people to KNOW they exist is to hear about them. So please--5 minutes--hop on Barnes & Noble's website and write a little review. Tell your friends who you think would be interested. You guys could get Insperatus farther than I could ever get it alone.

Thanks. As always. :)

~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.

...