The Vampire Relationship Guide Volume 1 Blog Tour: Guest Post with Evelyn Lafont

Today on the blog, I have the brilliant Evelyn Lafont, author of The Vampire Relationship Guide, with a guest post on her view about the appeal of the supernatural genre.



Evelyn Lafont is an author and freelance writer with an addiction to Xanax and a predilection for snark. Her debut novella, The Vampire Relationship Guide, Volume 1: Meeting and Mating is available on Amazon , Barnes and Noble and Smashwords.

The Rational Appeal of Supernatural Books


As a reader, I tend to get into these grooves during which I only want to read a specific type of book for, like, months on end. Lately (as in, for the past year or so), if a book doesn’t have a supernatural element—like a vampire, demon, fae, sorcerer, whateverer—I can’t…um…sink my teeth into it.

There once was a time when I could read conventional chick lit without any supernatural goodies or badies and be perfectly content but now, I want funny, sexy, romantic and otherworldy to scratch all my itches. (Okay, really, could I have used a grosser analogy than that?)

Recently, I began wondering about this change because, since I’ll be turning 36 this year, I feel like my tastes should be getting more practical and less fantastical but my reading preferences seem to be pulling me the other way. I can’t help but wonder if it isn’t the age thing that’s really causing this. After all, the older I get, the more I have to face my own mortality. And you know what supernatural characters have in common? Immortality or, in the very least, a super long lifespan.

But another way that age might be affecting my reading choices is that the older you get, the more you realize that…oh, how do I put this…life is boring. Well, maybe not always but it is a bit—predictable. So why wouldn’t I want to pick up a book that has a reality no one could see as boring and events that I can’t possibly predict?

Every reader, obviously, is different. Each will have their own reading quirks, favorite genres and irrefutable reasons why they are completely devoted to that genre. For me? Gimme something funny, with a bit of bite, and a sexy otherworldly live-forever type, and I’m happier than a human chick lying in a pile of sexy vampires. Well…almost.

Dreamwalk Blog Tour: Guest Post from Sarah MacManus

Little Episodes

When Naomi asked me if I wanted to do a guest post for her blog, I wanted to take the opportunity to help promote my favorite non-profit org, Little Episodes. Little Eps is an arts community currently based in London that works to promote artists, writers, poets and performers. It was started a few years ago by actress Lucie Barât, and the whole crew works to help get writers published, get performers onstage and get artist’s work scene.

I ‘met’ Lucie online back in 2008 when we both had short stories in the same issue of an online journal called “The Battered Suitcase.” When she told me about her vision for Little Episodes, I was instantly taken and of course I volunteered to help out. She wanted to produce a volume of short stories and poetry that let writers express the ups and downs, the depression, addiction and other life-numbing, art-killing problems of working in the arts industry. Who knew better than us how it can wear you down, trying to make a living in an unsympathetic industry?

(Lucie Barat and Sadie Frost)
Over the last three years, that volumes of prose and poetry has grown into a vibrant organization. The anthologies themselves have featured work from renowned poet Todd Swift, award winning author Melvin Burgess and actress Sadie Frost.

Little Episodes has a monthly club night in London, where writers, artists, poets and performers can meet up, socialize, network and share their work through performance and collaboration. Our club nights have featured emerging music artists like Kieran Leonard and The Penny Ballads, as well as better known performers like Carl Barât (Lucie’s brother) and most recently, Adam Ant.

(Adam Ant)

Little Episodes has an online community where artists can share and promote their work, learn from each other, get support and develop friendships that make the life with an uncertain calling less stressful and more fun. It’s open to the public and anyone can join and everyone is welcome to the events. So if you just like to read, or are just starting to think about writing, painting, or playing, you’ll be welcome.

Soon to come is a café in Brighton, with food and drink, bookshop, wifi, poetry readings, performances and art workshops.

I’m really proud to be associated with Little Episodes and hope that it continues to strike a chord with readers and writers alike.

You can find them online at www.littleepisodes.org/ or on Facebook.

All graphics taken from www.littleepisodes.org.