Backup Ribbon Project

July 30, 2013July 30, 2013 / Shauna Granger / Leave a comment

So the biggest con of the year has come and gone, but there are still more to come. One huge one coming up is DragonCon (arguably the birthplace of BRP). Oh, I’d love to go to that one!

Anyway, much has been discussed lately about safety at Cons, specifically safety against harassment in all its nasty, mean forms.

Harassment in public settings is a tricky thing, for the victim that is. There’s so many people around, everyone’s laughing and having a good time, costumes are everywhere and the mood is just so high you might float away, and then something happens. Maybe you spent weeks and weeks putting together the coolest cosplay costume ever, maybe it’s a little revealing, but that’s okay because we’re all mature adults right? Wrong. Your awesome, bouncing mood is shattered by some creepy comment or lewd gesture or maybe someone even touched you. You want to say something, but you’re nervous, or even a little scared. That’s okay, that’s perfectly normal. But maybe you braved the Con alone and you don’t know where to go? Or maybe you do, but you don’t want to go alone. Or maybe you don’t feel like you can get out of this horrid situation alone.

Photo credit: Emmie Mears

Now you don’t have to be afraid, not anymore. Now there is the Backup Ribbon Project.

This amazing thing was started by two Con attendees and basically it’s a battle cry to all people who think you should be able to go places, in costume or not, alone or in a group, and be safe in your space.

If you need help, anyone wearing one of these beautiful purple ribbons is your new best friend. They will intervene, they will walk with you, they will find help for you or with you.

Let me tell you, if I am ever at a Con again, and I will be, I will be wearing one of these ribbons. I hope you will too. And if you see me, and you want one of these ribbons, I will have extra and I will pass them out.

Hot Paranormal Nights Blog Hop

July 25, 2013July 25, 2013 / Shauna Granger / 27 Comments

Hello everyone and welcome! I’m very excited to participate in this blog hop! Today I’m offering an excerpt from the second book in my Elemental Series: Air. Leave a comment below for your chance to win a free ebook copy of Air! And be sure to check out all the other awesome blogs participating in this hop!

***

The day had been stolen from us and, with a chill in the air, we realized the sun was sinking below the horizon, casting long shadows through the orchard beyond my window. Jodi and Steven climbed down the tree, deciding to walk home and leave Jensen and me alone. I needed warm comfort that went beyond what friends alone could offer with just platonic affection. I needed heat and to feel grateful to be alive.

As soon as the trapdoor was shut behind them, Jensen reached out and carefully gathered me into his arms and pulled me into his lap. It was awkward for me at first, being cradled in his crossed legs like a child in a parent’s lap. Bracing myself on his shoulders, I pulled myself up enough to wrap my legs around his waist and sit in his lap, facing him.

I laid my hands on the swell of his chest and looked into his blue, blue eyes. His fingers massaged the small of my back, careful of the bruise on one side. I breathed in the scent of him, the wonderful combination of musk, cinnamon, and something sweet I could never figure out the name of.

“I know you said dating one of you means dating all of you, but I’m glad I only get to do this with you,” Jensen whispered into my hair, breathing against my ear, sending chills up my back, over my arms and out my fingertips, making tiny sparks of light flicker between our bodies. This might not be a committed, full-blown relationship, but we were the only people we were intimate with. And thank goodness, because I don’t think I could’ve shared.

“Jensen, I’m not sure we should,” I whispered, pushing on his chest to distance myself from him, if even only a couple of inches.

“Shay, we’ve talked about this,” he said, leaning toward my neck again. “I know we’re not boyfriend and girlfriend. You’re not taking advantage of me,” his breath was hot against my skin, making me shiver again.

He chuckled quietly and lowered his lips to my collarbone, kissing lightly. I tilted my chin up and felt the shift in energy around us; it was suddenly alive and swirling, playing with the locks of my hair, caressing my skin just as he laid feather light kisses on my shoulder and neck. I felt the sap trapped beneath the bark of the tree that broke the line of the walls run faster, in time with my pulse, as if the faster and hotter my blood ran, so did the life in the tree.

I felt a warm summer breeze come to life outside and rush in around us, heavy with the scents of grass, salt, and moist earth. I caught my breath just as Jensen’s teeth found the muscle in my neck and bit down, just hard enough, and the wind paused in time with me. When I exhaled, the wind rushed around us again. My skin was alive with nerves and energy waiting to be released. Jensen’s fingers pressed harder into my back, as if he would claw into my skin and I would have welcomed it. My back arched, pressing me against him, and I felt him catch his breath, his chest trembling under the pressure of my fingers as I clung to him. My thighs tightened around his waist, bringing a small sound from his parted lips. I felt his body swelling in answer to my body pressing against him.

He turned his face up to mine and I found his lips, pressing them gently into a kiss that grew almost immediately into something fiercer, almost desperate, as if the very air we breathed was locked in the other’s mouth. The energy around me built subtly and I felt it press against us. One of his hands slid up my back, tracing a tingling line of power dancing on my skin, until he found the back of my head and twined his fingers into the richness of my hair. He held it tightly against the base of my skull, just this side of painful, causing me to whimper against his mouth.

The energy that was building around us was almost too much for me to ignore as it became like a second pressure on my body, separate from his arms and chest, making it difficult to breathe. I broke from our kiss, gasping in a deep breath. Before I could exhale, I was suddenly moving, Jensen lifting me and turning our bodies until I was pressed into the floor with the weight of him above me.

***

Check out the other blogs participating!

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The Hobbit – Misty Mountains Orchestral Cover

July 19, 2013July 18, 2013 / Shauna Granger / 1 Comment

This is one of the coolest things EVER!

Photo Tour Week Five: Spirit

July 3, 2013July 1, 2013 / Shauna Granger / Leave a comment

Well, here we are, the final post of the series. I hope you’ve enjoyed getting a peek into the Elemental Series. Today’s post is the last stop, featuring photos of places featured in Spirit!

IF YOU HAVE NOT READ FIRE AND SPIRIT YET, BE FAIR WARNED: THERE BE SPOILERS AHEAD!

Okay? Good? Everyone still here not afraid of the spoilers? You sure? Good. Let’s continue.

In the beginning of the book we’re at Shayna’s memorial service. A couple of weeks ago we visited this are when I showed you all the pictures of Water, but let’s see the beautiful, fitting place once more.

From there, Shayna travels as a wraith, trying to figure out just what the hell she should do. She decides to try to make contact with Steven, who is at his boyfriend’s apartment. Before successfully making it to Anthony’s home, Shay is drawn to a park across the street, which turns out to be Cemetery Park.

This is a real place in Ventura. For decades it was solely a cemetery, then in the ’70’s the city turned it into a dog park. It’s very beautiful, but creepy because a few graves remain. You could be strolling along, on the green grass and under the Willow trees and then you’ll stumble across a grave marker.

Isn’t that beautiful? I know, right? And then you’ll find these:

When you first walk up to then entrance of the park, this is what it looks like:

It’s lovely and tragic all at once, kind of fitting, I hope.

Anthony’s apartment building isn’t quite as beautiful, but at least he has the beautiful views of the park.

Now, I warned you all that this would be a short post because so much of this book takes place in the Otherworld, in the land of the dead and the Sluagh. But when I was leaving The Cross, after taking pictures for the Fire post, I saw this and it struck me as the perfect depiction of the land that Shay found herself in.

So, there you have it! Five weeks of pictures and now, should you have the urge, when you re-read the series, you might have a deeper connection with the books!

I hope you all enjoyed this, I know I did!

Learning to Play

June 30, 2013 / Shauna Granger / Leave a comment

I’m so excited for this. My mom was a D&D’er when I was a kid, but I never got a chance to play. Let’s hope I don’t make a total ass out of myself (oh, and you’ll probably find out just how bad my potty mouth really is).

Spellbound Scribes

When I was a kid, my best friend and I spent half our time pretending—we were lock smiths who moonlighted as thieves, we were pioneers on the Oregon Trail, we were jockeys riding in the Kentucky Derby, we were witches making potions, and we were a thousand other things I can’t even remember.

It’s easy to play when you’re a kid. Pretending comes easier to children, who don’t feel the same limiting attachment to the so-called real world. Sure, maybe you had to clean your room or pick up sticks in the yard to earn your allowance, but responsibility was only something you knew for a spelling test.

As an adult, playing is hard. We’re attached to the notion of ourselves as our ideas and our pesky responsibilities. We are our jobs or our relationships, and we very often like those identities. It’s hard to let them go without feeling…

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Photo tour week 4: Fire

June 28, 2013June 28, 2013 / Shauna Granger / Leave a comment

Hello again! I hope you all are enjoying your little trip through my fair city! Today, we’re taking a turn for the darker side of the series. Today I will show you the places that exist in the fourth book: Fire. (Just click on the pictures to see enlarged versions.)

In the beginning, Shay is atop a hill, overlooking Ventura. She’s been meditating and desperately trying to glean any energy she can from the hillside. Atop this hill is a massive cross that marks the area where Spanish Monks used to reside. Here is that hill and the view.

You can see, people were getting married there that day. What a lovely place for a wedding.

And this is the view from the top of the hill:

Kind of appropriate that there was so much June Gloom that day. Since the book takes place in the winter, you get a better sense of what it should look like in the book

A few more pretty views of the hill:

I wanted to give you some awesome shots of the coastline where Shayna tests out her new-found flying abilities to help in the car crash, but alas, there was so much construction going on, none of the shots were usable.

But, moving right along! We get to see the beautiful Majestic Ventura Theater:

The view from the balcony (I’m sure we all liked the balcony scene 😉 ):

Photo credit: gothers.com

And finally, the entrance to The Tea Gardens. This is the place where I set the New Years Even scene and subsequently the fiery end of the book.

Five years ago there actually was a horrible, horrible fire in this area. College kids had broken into the Tea Gardens (so named because this once belonged to Charlie Chaplan and he would take his tea in this part of the property), had a party and a fire and did not properly extinguish their fire before they left. A few days later, wind stirred the embers and set a catastrophic fire, burning 100 homes and injuring two people. It was heartbreaking. Because of my father’s business (construction), we were very familiar with this area and knew many of the people effected. I cannot tell you how wonderful it is to see it doing so well now.

Photo tour week three: Water

June 28, 2013June 28, 2013 / Shauna Granger / Leave a comment

Welcome to the third installment of our photo tour! This week: Water – Book Two in the Elemental Series. This will probably be one of the shorter posts since most of the book’s major locations were underwater, but hopefully I’ve caught enough shots to make it entertaining for you.

In the very beginning we are brought on a dawn patrol surf session with Shayna at her favorite break: Surfers’ Point

Dawn at the beach is a wondrous, beautiful thing.

(click the image to see a larger version)

Each of these were taken at Surfers’ Point and gives you an idea of the changing moods of our beach.

Later, Shayna chases down a woman, frantically looking for her lost child. Little does Shay realize, the area known as “River Mouth” would be where she spend the majority of her time on her summer break.

River Mouth, where fresh water meets the sea.

And later we would see the beautiful beaches of Emma Wood. Emma has a special place in my heart because that was where my dad taught me how to boogie board and was one of the first places I went surfing with my husband. And if you ever find yourself in this neck of the woods, Emma is one of the nicest spots to watch the sunset.

So many beautiful beaches in our county, I just wish we were lucky enough to get seashells :). Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this installment!

Photo Tour for Air: Book Two in the Elemental Series

June 28, 2013June 28, 2013 / Shauna Granger / Leave a comment

Welcome to week two of our photo tour! Today I’m featuring the real life locations that inspired many of the places in Air: Book Two.

First up the shopping center with the movie theater and cafe where we first meet Jeremy and his invisible friends.

Then of course we have our favorite bookstore…

Which turns into a rather scary place when an unstable Jeremy looses his cool…

And then flees by jumping off the exterior balcony.

Unfortunately a lot of the other locales were made up. Much of what happened in this book were in private homes and then of course, in the Shide. None of which I could photograph.

Photo Tour of Earth: Book One in the Elemental Seires

June 28, 2013June 28, 2013 / Shauna Granger / Leave a comment

Hello my lovelies! Today is the first installment of the photo tour of the real life places of the locations featured in the Elemental Series! First up: Earth. Mind you that I’m just showing your real places. I did make up some places, pulled them right out of my imagination. Like the high school – that place was an amalgamation of all the high schools in the district, so no pics of that.

Unfortunately when June 1st rolled around, Ventura decided to be very literal about June Gloom. It had been sunny and warm and pretty for weeks until June 1st, so some of these pics look a little dreary and I’m sorry for that.

So without further ado!

The Oak Ash and Thorn, featured in all five books was actually based on Journey Home, our local metaphysical shop. I have been going to this shop since I was six years old. Sadly, the exterior isn’t the prettiest.

In the beginning of the book the trio goes to a greasy spoon restaurant before they perform their first casting of the series. I give you Main St Cafe. Fun fact: this is the same restaurant from Erin Brockavich!

And you’ll recall when they were finished with their meal they took some food to go for their friend and lookout, Byron. This is Byron’s bench and beyond that, the first place we see the trio cast their first spells of the series.

And though the reason the three are seeking out the cause of the disruption of their quiet town and looking for someone performing blood magic, the drive down the coast to the first location is always beautiful.

(Many car companies film their commercials along this stretch of road.)

Later, the trio goes on the hunt for the guy causing all the ruckus in town, performing blood magic and trying to lure girls into the woods.

New blogspace

June 28, 2013 / Shauna Granger / Leave a comment

I’ve decided to make the move from Blogger, to WordPress. I already use WP with the blog I contribute to, Spellbound Scribes. Blogger, though pretty easy to form posts, is very frustrating. I’ve been thinking of moving away from it for a while now and today I’d had my last straw. So! Here we are.

I may see about moving some of the old blog posts over here, but no promises.

Hope you guys handle the move well!