#5 Is it . . . In The Blood?
Confessions of a Baby Vampire #5
Out of consideration of the faint-of-heart the "red eye removal" feature has been applied to this photo. (Don't let the lack of fangs fool you: the Twilight Vamps have retractable fangs, too.)
Although it doesn't say it anywhere in the book, the main character in VAMPIRE BABY does have a name. He's named after my nephew, Devin. Devin, shares a common root with devil. No one would ever, ever call Devin a devil-child now--he's a top student, vice-president of his school, football player, all around nice guy--now, I say, because there was a time . . .
When my sis-in-law, Joanne, told me about Devin and "that time" she was called into the principal's office, I received the news with a mixture of relief and anxiety. After years of being the only "biter" (whispered from the side of their mouths from behind their hands, and with a shudder of disapproval) it was comforting in that misery-loves-company way to know I wasn't the only one. And a bit worrisome thinking it might be---cue the music dum-du-dum-dum-duhhhhhh-- in our blood.
A quick click through the internet (repository of all knowledge true and not) I'm not the only one worried that vampirism might be hereditary. According to an article from the Pravadaru Post, "Lee Eallis, a British physician, came up with a theory that linked the so-called vampires with porphyria, one of a group of rare inherited disorders due to disturbance of the metabolism of the breakdown product of the red blood pigment hemoglobin. In 1963, Eallis submitted his monograph titled On Porphyria and Etymology of Vampires to the Royal Society of Medicine."
So according to reports, a classmate named Casey "turned" Devin. It happened in Kindergarten, near the "house" corner or the "coloring" corner. Stories vary as to the location and time, as they do regarding the exact incantation Casey used to bring about Devin's transformation. All parties agree on one point. Consistently agreeable, smiley, all around good guy, Devin, turned around a sank his fangs into Casey's back. And when it was all over, even after being sent to the principal's office, even after the authorities were called, and threatened with expulsion and unimaginable punishment, Devin refused to repent. "You deserved it!" was his only defense.
Check out long, sharp, pointed fangs . . .
I'll leave it to you to decide: Is biting a symptom of some rare inherited vampiric disorder or is it simply a matter of being a nice guys last resort?
One last word on the subject. This is Devin's family dog. His name is Mr. Fangles
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#4 I Didn't Mean to Hurt Him . . .
Confessions of a Baby Vampire #4
Oh the glee with which my mother relays baby vampire stories . . . I don't recall this every happening, can't imagine myself doing it, but, the story goes that my brother Joe . . .
Confessions of a Baby Vampire #4
Oh the glee with which my mother relays baby vampire stories . . . I don't recall this every happening, can't imagine myself doing it, but, the story goes that my brother Joe love, love, loved his baby sister. And he loved to give me squeezes and lovies. One day, he bent close to do just that and CHOMP! I bit him, clamped down on his bottom lip and would not let go . . .
My brother Joe, 3 years old. He was a loving big brother
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#3 Jerry Started It . . .
Confessions of a not-so-baby Vampire #3
Me, our neighbor, Jerry, and Joe riding the bucking mule at Knott's Berry Farm
Jerry, lived across from us in the next building. Mostly, Jerry was my brother's friend. Sometimes, Jerry was my friend, too. (Especially when they were bored.) One summer day, the three of us decided to run away. While Joe and Jerry stood guard, I sneaked in the kitchen and packed the lunchbox and we set off. We walked and walked for like a hundred miles. When starvation set it, we climbed into a massive sewer pipe section which had been left in a ravine. When I had to pee, the boys stood guard, I did they same for them--just in case we were being tracked by marauders. Along the way, we kept watch for bottles. (Back then bottles could be returned for a deposit of 5 or 10 cents). We found a few (maybe 2?) and stored them in the now empty lunch box, which we took turns carrying. As dusk, we found ourselves near the grocery store. Rations depleted, we raced to the store to cash in our bottles. As it happened, I was holding the lunch box. As we neared the entrance, Jerry tried to snatch the lunch box away from me, so . . . I bit him.
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#2 Her Favorite Food are Red, Blood-red . . .
Confessions of a Not-So Baby Vampire #2
Having lived all my 8 years near the strawberry fields of California--"The Fruit Bowl" "Salad Bowl" or "Paradise" Nanny called it, depending on the season--moving to Pennsylvania, arriving Christmas Eve, in a blizzard, was . . . an adjustment. My mom says my brother and I "cried because we couldn't go outside." (I think she's being a bit dramatic...) The sentiment was true enough. I especially missed the abondanza of fruit: red delicious (although mealy) apples, plump red plums, juicy red raspberries, and most of all, heaping crates of field-sweet strawberries so ripe the juices ran blood-red down my arm when I bit one.
In our Easter outfits, check out those gloves and my groovy handbag!
So that first Easter in Pennsylvania, when mom surprised us with a fresh strawberry pie, well, who could blame me?
After double-checking no one was near, I plucked a big red strawberry dripping with glaze from the back of the pie and ate it.
Blood-red desire for more drove me to do something I knew I shouldn't.
I sneaked back into the fridge, plucked another strawberry out of the pie. Held it poised over my mouth and bit off the bottom. Then I tucked it back into the pie, stem side up. The glaze settled in nicely around it. None would have been the wiser if I'd stopped at one. But I didn't. Couldn't. Again and again I sneaked back for more.
Who will notice a missing bite or two. . . Pass the whipped cream, quick!
By the time it was served, the pie had shrunk in size by half. I held my breath and hoped no one would notice. And they didn't seem to, not until my mom served up the first slice and several bottomless strawberries tumbled out.
The "I Vant My Vampire Baby" Book Trailer Contest--is NOW!!!
Here's how: View the Vampire Baby by Kelly Bennett book trailer on Youtube. Leave a comment. You're entered to win you're very own authographed copy of the book. It's that easy!
#1 Confessions of a Baby Vampire
In keeping with the contest, daily--from Oct 15 thru 31st, I will post a true confession of a Vampire here on my blog, Kelly's Fishbowl. Please join the fun and share your Vampire Baby anecdotes. Enter the Contest as many times as you like--watch the trailer, post a comment, your entered to win! It's that easy!!!
Confession of a Baby Vampire #1
I didn't have Vampire fangs. But I was a biter. I bit my big brother, Joe. I bit my mother. And one day, when my grandfather, Poppy, came to pick me up at school, he found my teacher in tears. Why? Because I bit and kicked her... Then I climbed to the top of the monkey bars I wouldn't come down . . .
Whoops! I didn't mean to hurt her....honest!
The "I Vant My Vampire Baby" Book Trailer Contest--is NOW!!!
Here's how: View the Vampire Baby by Kelly Bennett book trailer on Youtube. Leave a comment. You're entered to win you're very own authographed copy of the book. It's that easy!
An Anthor's Fear . . .
If a tree falls in the forest and noone is near, does it make a sound?
The question was first posed by Philosopher George Berkeley, in A Treatise Concerning the Principles of Human Knowledge (pub. 1710). Here's the passage "But, say you, surely there is nothing easier than for me to imagine trees, for instance, in a park [...] and nobody by to perceive them. [...]
Help! I'm falling and I can't get up . . .
In June 1883, in the magazineThe Chautauquan, the question was posed, "If a tree were to fall on an island where there were no human beings would there be any sound?"
The question was answered with an emphatic NO!
"Sound is the sensation excited in the ear when the air or other medium is set in motion."[3] . In other words, if there is no ear near to hear it, there is no sound.
If a book is published and nobody reads it? Then it is no book.
Spoken or not, this is every author's fear. And we are a fearful lot:
First, we fear we won't be able to tell our story . . .
Then, we fear our story will never be published . . .
After, we fear no one will want to read our book. . .
And in-between, before and after there are a byzillion other smaller fears... (Is it any wonder so many notable authors, as Mr. Bojangles put it, "drinks a bit"?)
They make housecalls . . .
That's why I did it--4 am wake-ups, 3 flights, 6 hours drive--Why I went to Fenton, MO, where, thanks to Deborah, the Barnes and Noble Community Relation's Rep, and Rebecca Grose, my publicist, visited 6 schools, gave 6 school and 2 store presentations, to read. Read it I did. I read VAMPIRE BABY at least a dozen times, and NOT NORMAN, A Goldfish Story, too!
What ohhhh, what a joyful time it was!
Gretchen, the brand new Guffey Elem librarian, came by the store after work just to scoop up copies for her library!
Angie and "Granny from Philly" brought the triplets, Jacob, Ryan & Kevin, by for Storytime (and Granny asked where I got my hair cut, but didn't think it was worth the trip to my Trini hairdresser, Helen...)
Mrs. O, the Trautwein Elem librarian broadcast the program and answers to their most excellent questions throughout the school. I've met David Shannon...does that count??? And yes, it really did take me 2 years to write that book with just those many words...
B&N Children's Section welcome
What these pictures don't show is a couple hundred K-2nd graders, in all manner of costume and hair-do, eyes bright, shaking their fingers and shouting out "NO BITE!"
Music to my fearful author's ears!
The "I VANT MY VAMPIRE BABY" Contest begins Oct. 15. Enter to win!
Link: http://kellybennett.com/blog/2013/10/i-vant-my-vampire-baby-contest-details
I Vant My Vampire Baby! Contest Details
Just in time for Halloween...
Enter now to become one of 3 lucky winners in theI Vant My VAMPIRE BABY contest!
Prizes include an autographed copy of VAMPIRE BABY by Kelly Bennett for your little ghost or goblin – along with fun VAMPIRE BABY swag such as bookmark, postcard, and fangs.
It’s easy to enter, here’s what you do:
1) Check out the VAMPIRE BABY book trailer on YouTube
2) Post a comment about the book trailer on that page (below the trailer)
3) You’re entered! It’s just that easy!!
Don’t miss out – be sure to enter today...and tell your friends!!
The contest will run from 10/15 to midnight 10/31/13! Three winners being selected and posted on Facebook at Kelly Bennett Books and in the book trailer comments on 11/1/13. Be sure to check for your name to see if you’re one of the 3 winners!
Click to view: VAMPIRE BABY book trailer on YouTube
Happy Viewing!
JUST KEEPS GETTING WEIRDER . . . Dimples!
For some, it may have been a passing thought. One of those "Boy if only I had dimples, too . . . I'd get to be Goddess-of-the-Whole-Entire-Universe-and-Beyond" thoughts that cross your mind when you saw __________(fill in the blank). And if you're honest, after my last post, you might have given serious thought as to whether you could grow a pair--of dimples that is--by sucking on popsicles. You might even have popped for a six pack of strawberry ice on a stick--less than 100 calories each! Checked into Cool Scuplting. Or, in a burst of guilt-free glee, googled recipes to make your own. Sorry to say, I still don't know how many popsicles one must suck to develop face dimples. I'm still working on it. . .
But I did find some interesting recipes for various flavors. Here are my fav fruit pop recipes.
It's weird enough to think of someone putting so much thought into how dimples are formed. And it just keeps getting weirder:
Our frieghbor, Brian, just sent me an article about a woman who wanted dimples so badly--and thought everyone else did, too...enough to pay for them--that she invented a dimple making machine!
Anyone in the market for "A fine set of dimples?"
Here's more about Isabella Gilbert and her contraption, along with other "bad inventions":
It just keeps getting weirder . . .