I also share posts here from my blog: (follow me there and never miss a post). Vampire's Garden: Dock. Love Lies Bleeding‘s readers know that main character Mara is both a vampire and a botanist. Trained when she was still human, she continues to study plants and have a garden. This post is fifth in a series exploring Mara’s plants. Are you interested in botany, gardening, or plant lore? So are some vampires… Please note: Medicinal uses are given for informational purposes only. Always consult a medical professional before diagnosing or treating yourself or anyone else.
Botanical Name: Rumex crispus Common Names: Yellow Dock, Curly Dock, Curled Dock, Narrow Dock, Rumex History: Native to Europe and western Asia, dock gets the common name “yellow dock” from its large root, which is bright yellow when cut, and the name “curly dock” from its slightly ruffled leaves. Victorian Language of Flowers Meaning: Patience Cultivation: Perennial in zones 4 to 7. Uses: Medicinal: The root is high in iron and is used to treat anemia, often in combination with stinging nettle (Urtica dioica). Bleeding Heart. My Other Writing. A selection of Aspasía S. Bissas’s posts, articles, and interviews published on other sites… Supernatural episode reviews on The View from the Junkyard Echoes, Poetry collaboration with writer Peter Wyn Mosey Umbra’s Wake, Short story on The Finest Example Moving, Poetry collaboration with writer Peter Wyn Mosey Passing By, Short story collaboration with writer Peter Wyn Mosey Ghosts, Poetry collaboration with writer Peter Wyn Mosey Disrespecting the Gods, Guest post on Druid Life Pet Peeves, Guest Post on JB’s Bookworms with Brandy Mulder How to Create Your Wildlife Community, Guest post on Druid Life Movies & My Books, Guest post on Maiden of the Pages Dreams, Guest post on Jazzy Book Reviews About My Characters’ Names, Guest post on Inside the Insanity About My Characters, Guest post on Readeropolis Love Lies Bleeding Book Tour Kickoff, with Excerpts and Guest Post Author Interview, on Smashwords My Wildlife Community, Guest post on Druid Life.
30 November is the Feast Day of Saint Andrew, which is generally associated with winter festivals, school holidays, divination, and religious ceremonies. In Romania, the day is also associated with vampires and other malevolent forces. St. Andrew is the patron saint of Romania (and elsewhere), and his day there is both honoured and feared. It marks the beginning of winter, and because of the saint’s association with wolves, there’s a belief that wolves are particularly strong and bloodthirsty on this night.
Another belief is that the veil between life and death is thin on 30 November, and the spirits of the dead can slip into this world. But along with spirits, other beings can also come through, including vampires and the undead. To protect themselves, people use garlic (something else associated with St. Want a safe way to spend the night with vampires? Do you believe evil forces walk the earth tonight? Love Lies Bleeding Bleeding Heart *Blood Magic *Tooth & Claw Further Reading St. Cheers, Vampire's Garden: St. John's Wort. Love Lies Bleeding‘s readers know that main character Mara is both a vampire and a botanist. Trained when she was still human, she continues to study plants and have a garden. This post is fourth in a series exploring Mara’s plants. Are you interested in botany, gardening, or plant lore? So are some vampires… Please note: Medicinal uses are given for informational purposes only. Latin Name: Hypericum perforatum Common Names: St. History: Native to temperate Europe and Asia, St.
Victorian Language of Flowers Meaning: Animosity Cultivation: Perennial (Zones 5-7). Uses: Medicinal: Taken internally, St. Externally, the oily extract is used to heal wounds, bruises, and various skin conditions. You can also make a tea with fresh or dried flowers. Caution: If you’re taking prescriptions (including anti-depressants, heart medicine, and birth control pills), avoid using St. Caution 2: If you’re taking St. Crafts: Alcohol extracts of the plant produce a deep red dye. Further Reading: St. WebMD Cheers, Last Meal for a Vampire. I’ve never given much thought to last meals. As something one generally doesn’t get to choose, it’s a topic that, for me, ranges from pointless to depressing (I’d much rather think about my next meal).
But others find it a fascinating subject, agonizing in detail over what they would have, or in the case of J.B. Gish over at Quirk Books, what famous literary characters might have. Gish has imagined Hermione Granger, imprisoned for identity theft by unknown means, would have boomslang skin, lacewing flies, a bit of a guard’s hair, and the rest of the ingredients for Polyjuice Potion (imagine making that request). Meanwhile, Dexter Morgan (Dexter book series) might opt for something like ham, eggs, and blood oranges; while Mark Watney (The Martian) would request literally anything but potatoes. Mara’s Last Supper wheat bread with fresh butter fish stew made with onions, parsnips, trout, bacon, and wild garlic and herbs that Mara foraged baked apples with honey and currants wine Cheers, I always find it strange that people need to be convinced to read. I can’t remember a time when I didn’t love books. For me, books have always been magic, gateways to other worlds, other lives.
They’re adventures and dreams, knowledge and potential, all packed into conveniently portable packages. Forget apps–no matter what you want or need at any given moment in life, there’s a book for it. How could anyone not instantly see the value in that? And yet… According to the Pew Research Center, 26% of American adults have admitted to not reading even part of a book in the last year (and I’m sure the numbers are similar in Canada). If magic, knowledge, and adventure aren’t enough to get you interested, maybe I should also mention that: Yale researchers found that people who read books for 30 minutes a day live longer than those who read magazines or who don’t read at all. Successful people read (and they share some of their favourite books here). Need a short story to get you started? Cheers, Vampire's Garden: Lavender. Love Lies Bleeding‘s readers know that main character Mara is both a vampire and a botanist. Trained when she was still human, she continues to study plants and have a garden.
This post is third in a series exploring Mara’s plants. Are you interested in botany, gardening, or plant lore? So are some vampires… Please note: Medicinal uses are given for informational purposes only. Always consult a medical professional before diagnosing or treating yourself or anyone else. Latin Name: Lavandula (Species include angustifolia, stoechas, latifolia, and dentata) Common Names: Lavender, English Lavender, French Lavender, Spanish Lavender, nard History: Part of the mint family, Lavender is native to Europe, northern and eastern Africa, and large parts of Asia. Victorian Language of Flowers Meaning: Loyalty, love, devotion Cultivation: Perennial (although in less ideal conditions, it should be considered an annual). Lavender has become invasive and/or weedy in parts of Australia and Spain.
Uses: WebMD. Vampire's Garden: Comfrey. Love Lies Bleeding‘s readers know that main character Mara is both a vampire and a botanist. Trained when she was still human, she continues to study plants and have a garden. This post is second in a series exploring Mara’s plants. Are you interested in botany, gardening, or plant lore? So are some vampires… Please note: Medicinal uses are given for informational purposes only. Latin Name: Symphytum officinale Common Names: Boneset, Bruisewort, Knitbone, Slippery Root History: Native to Europe and parts of Asia, comfrey has a long history (at least 2000 years) in healing.
Caution: Comfrey has been found to be toxic to the liver when taken internally in large amounts. Victorian Language of Flowers Meaning: Home sweet home Cultivation: Perennial in zones 4 to 9. Uses: Comfrey is still used externally to treat inflammation, joint pain, and closed wounds and bruises. In the garden, nitrogen- and potassium-rich comfrey leaves are used as fertilizer, in compost, and as mulch.
Further Reading: Vampire's Garden: Love Lies Bleeding. If you’ve read Love Lies Bleeding, you’ll know that main character Mara is both a vampire and a botanist. Trained when she was still human, she continues to study plants and have a garden. This post will be the first in a series exploring Mara’s plants. Are you interested in botany, gardening, or plant lore? So are some vampires… Please note: Medicinal uses are given for historical interest only. Latin name: Amaranthus caudatus Common names: Love-Lies-Bleeding, Pendant Amaranth, Tassel Flower, Velvet Flower, Foxtail Amaranth History: Native to South America, this and other varieties of Amaranthus were grown for their edible, protein-rich seeds. Victorian Language of Flowers Meaning: hopeless love or hopelessness Cultivation: Annual. Uses: Ornamental, cut flowers, edible (seeds and leaves). Wildlife: Birds love the seeds–leave plants in the garden over winter for the birds.
Bonus: Mara’s full name is Amarantha, which shares a root and meaning with Amaranthus: “unwilting” or “unfading.” WebMD. §. I have a theory that people who don’t read aren’t happy people. Or at least, they’re not as happy as they could be. It’s a highly unscientific theory, and maybe a little unfair, but think of some famous readers you know, then think of someone who famously doesn’t read, and decide for yourself whether I might have a point.
Actually, it turns out that I’m not entirely wrong. Science is discovering that to be a happier, healthier, and overall better person you do need to read…fiction. Apparently (and unsurprisingly) reading fiction teaches empathy, provides a sense of belonging, and relieves stress. Anyone who reads both non-fiction and fiction will recognize the difference in the two experiences. Read some fiction right now–download my FREE short story Blood Magic. Check out this new review of Blood Magic on Vamped.org. Find out more about why reading fiction is good for you. Review: Blood Magic. Blood Magicby Aspasía S. BissasAspasía S. Bissas, CDN$1.27 (Kindle)Published April 26, 2018 A great cover always helps. I remember this much, a few months after reading Aspasía S. Bissas’ first novel, Love Lies Bleeding (2017). Aspasía’s new short story, Blood Magic, teases readers and allows them to warm up before things get serious.
Set in the same realm as her debut novel, “badass” Mara and loyal companion Lee are back. A sign of the times, this short story should be folded up, put inside an envelope, and slid inside the goody bags ready for the male attendees of the next Golden Globe Awards. If aliens need a time capsule for the state of the world in 2018, Blood Magic is it. You know, when you need a little something between books. How long before the next instalment, Aspasia? Blood Magic leaves us wanting more. Blood Magic is available for free on Smashwords, iBooks and Kobo. For more information on Bissas’ work, visit: Updates. Literary Perfumes.
I recently read an article about the connection between literature and perfume, which also included suggestions for ideal perfumes for book lovers. As someone who has a slight perfume obsession (current favourite: Vanilla Extreme by Comptoir Sud Pacifique), I was intrigued. I especially liked the idea behind the Imaginary Authors perfume company, whose scents are based on the fictional exploits of made-up authors (most of whom seem to be male, an oversight I hope they take care of soon).
But if perfume can be designed for fictional authors, why not design one for Love Lies Bleeding’s main character Mara? Since Mara works with herbs and plants, she’s essentially steeped in their scents without needing to wear perfume. But if I were to create a perfume for Mara, it would have strong notes of sweet woodruff (which smells like vanilla and hay), clover, and lavender, with hints of smoky peat and black tea.
What do you think–would you wear this perfume? Available in paperback or ebook. Cheers, Recently I’ve heard a couple of stories about authors who were caught using AI to help write their books. Because of this, I thought I should clarify my feelings on AI. AI is trash. It might have some useful applications in the sciences, which–fine–go for it, if it’s helpful. But as far as the arts go, AI is garbage, and thieving garbage, at that. It scans the internet stealing whatever it can, then regurgitating what it stole. AI generated art, music, writing… it’s all soulless and anti-humanity. It takes human creativity and uses it (without permission or credit given) to produce nothing of value. It’s also bad for the environment. I have never and will never use AI in my writing, whether in blog posts or my novels.
I have never and will never use AI to help me edit. I have never and will never use AI for my cover art. I will never again use AI images in my blog posts (I used two in one post and am going to be replacing them with non-AI images). Want to support human creativity? Cheers, Review of Love Lies Bleeding by Vamped.org. Love Lies Bleedingby Aspasía S. BissasAspasía S. Bissas, US$12.95 (paperback)Published June 20, 2017 It took me a while to pick this book up because I doubted if anyone could bring something new to this weather-beaten cliff of a sub-genre: vampire romance. I should not have worried. Aspasía S. At times the scaffolding of the plot becomes visible as Bissas attempts to deliver a vampiric novel with a love story blended in.
Artistic licence allows the author to play with her own set of vampire rules and customs. Female protagonist Mara pulls the reader’s focus and allows them to get a real sense of social struggle, power, and 21-century feminism through themes of love, blood, and botanical science. Yes, in the 340 pages of my copy Bissas captures her corner of the vampire sub-genre with unique creative style and puts it down effortlessly on paper for all to see. I rate this novel 7/10. Read to the sound of heartbeats. Love Lies Bleeding is available on Amazon in paperback and Kindle formats. Review by Taliesin Meets the Vampires. Author: Aspasia S Bissas First published: 2017 (2nd Edition) Contains spoilers The Blurb: What happens when a predator loves its prey? Centuries-old Mara is dying a slow death when she meets Lee, a young man whose life has never belonged to him. The review: I am a strong reader, some might suggest voracious.
Mara is the vampire of the piece. She hopes her association with Nigel will help keep the obsessive Dominic at bay but finds him a bore and is shocked to discover that Nigel has decided to take her as a consort. The vampirism is interesting in this. What struck me in this was the writing, which was crisp, and strong. Author: Aspasia S Bissas First published: 2017 (2nd Edition) Contains spoilers The Blurb: What happens when a predator loves its prey? Centuries-old Mara is dying a slow death when she meets Lee, a young man whose life has never belonged to him. The review: I am a strong reader, some might suggest voracious. Mara is the vampire of the piece.
My website. Love Lies Bleeding by Aspasia S. Bissas.