Check out the review on Iyanna Noel Robinson’s blog:
http://priscillasbookshelf.weebly.com/book-review/chrysalis-lights-by-lori-titus-releasing-10312017
October brings the Horrors
It’s a busy time of year! Most horror authors are doing their best push for the Halloween season. While I haven’t been able to keep up with the blog as much as I like, I wanted to stop by and drop some links.
Right now, I have an Instafreebie out for a new boxed set that includes my story, The Culling:
https://www.instafreebie.com/free/04t6S
Sigils and Spells features Hunnting in Closed Spaces, along with 23 other urban fantasy novels. It’s available for pre-order on Amazon:
On October 31st, I will have a new book out, part of The Bennett Witch Chronicles. It will be available on Amazon Kindle Worlds.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/36072952-chrysalis-lights?from_search=true
Why Diversity Matters
A lot of people can tell you about diversity and why it’s important. There’s easy ways to explain it. Everyone likes to see a reflection of people that look like they do, love like they do, or share similar experiences and challenges. And when you show only a narrow cross section of people, the consequence is erasure of whole segments of that population. But it goes beyond even that.
Stories are important. They carry our vision for how we see the world, not only as it is, but how it could be. We dream of what could be accomplished, what could go wrong, and who would fight the good fight. We want that good guys to drive back the monsters, the aliens, the demons that are trying to claim us. We want to imagine a world where good can win—and that even if the heroes and heroines do lose, they go down valiantly.
Over the years we have seen movies and television shows slowly begin to change their ideas about writing and casting roles. In the literary world, one of the last corners of genre fiction to reflect diversity has been the paranormal, urban fantasy, and dystopian categories.
In the 1990’s, there was a slew of female kick ass heroines. Buffy, anyone? I loved La Femme Nikita and its television re-imaginings, Nikita and Alias. It’s worth mentioning that a reboot of the television show Nikita came out in the 2000’s starring Asian American actress Maggie Q.
Other than Maggie, most of these action femmes were white. Any women of color who appeared on television in these shows didn’t have a very long shelf life. If they lasted maybe two episodes, you considered yourself and the actress both lucky to have had a chance to even see a woman of color in the role.
Inspired by these stories, I set out to create my own heroine, and a world of characters for her to live with. My story is centered on a young black teenaged girl named Marradith Ryder. She has the power to hunt and kill monsters because of her complicated bloodline. Drawn into the Sojourners for her own protection, she soon finds out that working for the good guys comes with strings. There is action and romance, and bad things to be killed. But at its heart, Hunting in Closed Spaces is about family, those we’re born from and those we make our own through shared experiences and loyalty. The Sojourners are made up of people of all kinds, but they work together to accomplish their goals.
My story is peopled with vampires, werewolves, and shapeshifters. I also endeavored to make these characters look like us: Black, White, Latino, and Asian. I wanted to create a story with people who looked like the ones I grew up with in Los Angeles.
Sigils and Spells is a collection of stories which features diverse characters. Our goal of course is to entertain you. And while we do it, we hope to show you stories which contain all kinds of people. We want you to dream big, and to see some part of your experience reflected in the pages of these stories.
It’s both an honor and a pleasure to have my book included with my colleagues in this collection. I hope you’ll pick up a copy, and that we can give you new worlds to explore for a while.
Sigils and Spells
Sigils are symbols used in magic. If you have seen a few episodes of Supernatural, you’ve probably seen the symbols drawn on walls or floors, often used to banish the bad guys.
This month, I am involved in a new boxed set, featuring 24 authors who have come together to thrill you with urban fantasy, paranormal and dystopian landscapes. Expect all manner of bad things that go bump in the night, and the heroes/heroines who are brave enough to face them.
Urban Fantasy and Paranormal are booming business right now. What makes this set special is that the characters are diverse. You get to see people you don’t often find in the the genre. I’m very proud to have one of my stories included.
You can get your pre-order here:
Bennett Witch Chronicles: Chrysalis Lights
I have a new book revolving around Bonnie Bennett, the long suffering witch from The Vampire Diaries television show. There are sixteen standalone books in this collection. My book is called Chrysalis Lights.
For more information, check this out:
Chrysalis Lights by Lori Titus
Women of Horror and Dark Fiction: Gwendolyn Kiste’s List
Check out Gwendolyn Kiste’s latest list of writers you should get to know. I am going to grab some of these up soon!
Regine Sawyer’s Eating Vampires
A world where vampires are not the apex predator, with a little black girl at its center. Meet creator Regine Sawyer:
http://www.gruemonkey.com/2017/04/28/regine-sawyer-eating-vampires/
Zombiepalooza 500
Jackie Chin has made it her goal to interview 500 new independent creatives on her show this year. And I am in that number! Check it out. My interview is about 30 minutes in:
A Trip Back in Time
To celebrate the re-release of Lazarus on e-book, I am giving away free Kindle copies today through May 5, 2017. Pick up your copy on Amazon:
Blood Relations
Blood Relations is out and doing well!
Take a listen to my interview with Sapphire J Blue right here! She asked me some great questions about the nitty gritty of the story:
And in case you’re curious, the book is on Amazon:
The Darkest of Lore 