folklore

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Yesterday’s Live Event Journey, and What to Expect for this Thursday’s Japanese Folklore and Urban Legends Live Event.

If you were watching the live event taking place yesterday on Dusk Publishing  or on my page you were probably wondering why on earth some drunken crazy lady was posting live. Well, it was a live storytelling event designed to be told in a unique way.

I wanted to portray the character as poorly as possible. My art direction was to frame the character in as many bad situations as possible, including unflattering angles, clothing, and makeup to make it all seem ‘real’. I took great joy in making this character unfold and I wanted the progression to go from comical to very dark. The character focus was a type of sociopath that drove while drunk, could only see the shit side of life, and really had nothing go wrong but was bored and didn’t want to be here.

The series of lives are wake-ups after her blackouts from alcohol and after she ends up back to where she started (mentally and physically) decides to end it all. They are all still up on the pages (both my FB and Dusk’s) and you can check them out or comment at your leisure.

That being said─ what’s in store?

So, it’s that time of year that I both dread and freaking adore─ The Con season. I will be attending quite a few this year, but in the forefront of all of that is Akon28 and Afest ─both of which I have attended for several years and are my personal favorites.

For Akon, I wanted to do a series of live events building up until June 8th covering a few of my specialty topics and also some original content. You can hear my audiostories and podcasts here

For this coming Thursday, the 25th, I will talk to all of you live about Japanese urban legends, and folklore. I’ll also be answering any questions you have over the live events, and any Japanese folklore, culture, and urban myths questions you would like answered. (Please try and save the questions for the Hell’s Gate book release until June 7th, as we will be holding the AMA over that live on Wednesday before the book debut on the 8th!)

This one will be open for discussion and fully interactive, so feel free to ask questions as they come to you and I will get to them as quickly as I can.

This live event will be appropriate for all ages, so feel free to bring the whole family.

But there’s also─ a surprise in store!

For those that participate on Thursday the 25th’s live event, we will enter you into a drawing to win a free copy of Hell’s Gate book 1, and a sneak peek of the Hell’s Gate graphic novel releasing next year!
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There will be surprises in store for Akon, and it will be announced on the live event planned for June 7th as well, so you won’t want to miss it. 😉

 

Stay creepy kiddos─

❤ C.A.

 

 

 

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Akon 28 and Signing Announcements

Well, it happened─ I am officially signed on as a published creator at Dusk Publishing! I am so beyond excited to be joining this innovative and progressive company.

I signed on with them this past weekend at Collected in Keller in a live event on our facebook page. Meeting everyone that came through was a great joy and seeing all the little ones dressed up in their cosplay was an even bigger treat.

With that being said, let’s get to what to expect this next month as we count the days until Akon 28 arrives. This year is the first year that Akon will have left it’s Dallas home and moved to Fort Worth. I’m excited to see what this will do to its dynamics, as, it has always felt extremely cramped in the hotel spaces at both the Hilton Anatole, and in its earlier years, the Sheraton downtown. (if you’d like to see all the exciting guest this year, check out their guest page!)

So~ What’s in store for the month before our big live event for Akon 28?

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A month of live events building up to it, of course! This month, I’ll be popping up live to talk on my Motoko Kusanagi cosplay,

my graphic novel (set to release in 2018),

Hell’s Gate book 1 releasing Akon week (June 8-11) and book 2 of Hell’s Gate to be released in October of this year!

Plus more news on my audioshorts and books being released to the public.

My podcasts (if you noticed) tend to take time due to my busy schedule, but you can usually expect a few a year that cover Japanese folklore/Myths & Legends/Urban Legends. I’m never shy with the creepy, and it is my favorite thing to create.

Find out what’s in store for all of my audiostories soon! If you are curious, you can go to my main page and see the feed on the right, or go to the podcast link here.

If you want to see my most updated content, I tend to be on Twitter and FB often. I’m getting an outline together for my Youtube page and thinking about Twitch. Though my content is slowly (and painfully) building, I promise there will be more on Youtube soon!

I’ll be posting a live event calendar soon so you guys know when to tune in.

besos, and stay creepy,

─ C.A.

Hell’s Gate Trilogy

Where did you get your inspiration?

Many moons ago, this lady had a childhood. (Don’t take that tone of thoughts with me, reader, I hear it in your mind words.) For what my mother lacked, she made up with books. Our family loved stories, and my stepfather could spin a tale. I grew up learning about Chinese and Japanese folklore.

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Though I was fond of many, the one that always stuck out in my mind was The Weaver and the Cowherd.

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In book one of the trilogy, Celeste walks the long corridor of Matilda’s home which is filled with intriguing paintings. This section of the story combines the Tale of the Jade Emperor and the 12 signs of the Zodiac as well as The Weaver and the Cowherd.

Similarly, you may have read or heard about the star crossed lovers with the celebration of Tanabata in Japan. The tales are similar, but vary slightly from China to Japan.

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The gist of the tales, is that the Weaver of the stars fell in love with a lowly cowherd boy. Zhinü (or Orihime in the Japanese version) was forbidden by the Jade Emperor (Sky King, or Tentei in Japan) to fall in love with Niulang (Hikoboshi in Japan) and was separated by the Silver River, which represents the Milky Way.

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The only time the lovers are allowed to meet are on the 7th day of the 7th month when a flock of magpies flies down to allow them to rejoin.

I encourage all of you to actually read the tales, they are quite fascinating. But just know that the theme of forbidden love is probably the oldest in human history and still manages to top the charts with sales in the romance section.

On that note, I refuse to write romance. That’s sissy stuff. I easily get annoyed and the eye rolls begin as I’m cringing through most overly-emotional shows or characters. Don’t get me wrong, a little romance never hurts, but when I see people on screen making dumb choices, my aspie self goes bananas. I’ve managed to offend most people with my rants on how Character A should just off Character F because they are a huge risk to the group. Their jaws drop and I get a 5 minute lecture on human compassion. Yes, compassion is fine and good, but senor bleeding heart mc-love machine needs to take a swan dive over the cliff. Love doesn’t cure the badies rounding the corner because some dude is raising a ruckus to save his already-dead gal’s dignity.

 

…um, she doesn’t need that nor can she feel it. She’s dead, lady. She’s dead. /rant.

 

Why am I telling you this? Because I did a little trickses in Hell’s Gate. Besides the hidden meanings and sayings within the passages, I left a bit of an Easter egg in the story. I’m quite fond of superstitions and find them wickedly delicious when playing tricks on others. To top that off, I start the first book in what seems to be a tale of a love-driven main character. By chapter two, the water works end and by the end of the book, we discover a very different side to her love interest. Just you wait until book 2. I’m practically cackling. Next blog? The life that has kicked my arse for the past two years, and up and coming WIP.