Tag: pineiro

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Fun Friday – Superstitions and Another Contest!

It’s Friday the 13th, so what better Fun Friday discussion than superstitions! Growing up in a Latin household we had a bunch of them and I’ll share just a few that seem to remain with me.

First – No hats on the bed! It’s a symbol of death since the doctor who visited your loved one when they were ill would place their hat on the bed.

Second – No shoes on the bed! Another symbol of death since shoes were placed on the bed when they were preparing your loved one for burial.

Third – Never measure yourself from head to toe with a measuring tape! You guessed it, death again. Why? That’s what the undertaker does to prepare your casket.

What about vampires and the superstitions around them? Well, here’s one poor woman who was buried with a brick in her mouth for fear she was a vampire. Check out this link provided by my dear friend and fellow author Irene Peterson!
http://cosmos.bcst.yahoo.com/up/player/popup/?rn=3906861&cl=12424584&ch=4226726&src=news

You may know some of the more popular vampire superstitions, such as that they can’t come in uninvited, can’t eat garlic, don’t like the cross, have no reflection in a mirror and can’t come out in the sunlight.

Here are some other fun ones you may not know!

  • Spread thorns or poppy seeds in the path leaving the graveyard. The vamp must pick them up and it will take so long, they will not be able to do so before the sun rises. (Courtesy http://www.angelfire.com/mi/bunaziua/vampires.html)
  • Iron shavings, nails or other iron objects could be placed around someone needing protection from a vampire. (Courtesy http://www.pantheon.org/articles/v/vampire.html)
  • Vampires cannot cross running water.
  • In Europe, sprinkling mustard seeds on the roof of a house was said to keep them away. (Courtesy http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vampire)

The Kiang-shi (or chiang-shi) vampired depicted in FURY CALLS, has its own rules and superstitions. The Kiang-shi are actually reanimated corpses who hop around draining people of their life energy. They were particularly vicious and had strong sexual drives. Kiang-shi were created after a particularly violent death, an improper burial or dishonor at birth. You’ll see that I’ve included some of these superstitions in the book.

Amazingly, Kiang-shi also have problems with crossing running water, but they traditionally did not drink blood. This is a trait that was added later with the influence of European vampires.

Hope you enjoyed today’s Fun Friday superstitions!

Finally for those who loyally follow the blog, here’s an additional opportunity to win a prize – a copy of a SINS OF THE FLESH T-shirt and a copy of DESIRE CALLS. Just visit my pals at the Five Scribes blog and leave a comment today before midnight EST. Just click here to visit my guest blog there (after 8am EST) or paste this link into your browser: http://fivescribes.blogspot.com/

Also, don’t forget this week’s b’day bash as your chances of leaving a comment to win a prize end at midnight EST tonight! Just visit any of the blogs listed below this week and leave a comment and you’ll be eligible to win a prize from me! At Barbara Vey’s blog, there are tons of other prizes as well!

I’ll be visiting all of these blogs and if you’ve left a comment at any of them, you’ll also be eligible to win a $25 Godiva gift card! The more times I see your name at the different blogs, the more your chances improve to win the gift card. So take a moment and stop by one or all to improve your chances of winning a prize.

The contest ends on Friday, March 13th at midnight EST, so be sure to get your comments in there on time!

Barbara Vey’s Beyond Her Book Blog for lots of fun and giveaways!
http://www.publishersweekly.com/blog/880000288/post/1240041524.html

Fresh Fiction: http://freshfiction.com/page.php?id=1602

Harlequin Paranormal Romance blog: http://paranormalromanceblog.wordpress.com/

Liberty States Fiction Writers (leave a comment on any of the blog posts): http://www.libertystatesfictionwriters.com/blog-read-around-the-world/

Long and Short Reviews: http://longandshortarchives.blogspot.com/search/label/Caridad%20Pineiro

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Guilty Pleasures Monday and a Birthday Bash!

Dennis Quaid - Photo in the Public DomainEvery time I see Dennis Quaid I think, man he’s still got it! Now, his latest movie VANTAGE POINT was so not good, but he looked great in it.

One of my favorite Quaid movies is FREQUENCY which also starred Jim Cavaziel (another cutie!). THE ROOKIE is another good one with a very inspiring message to always follow your dreams!

bday1.gifAs you all may know, I’ve been very lucky to be able to follow my dreams as well. It’s wonderful to be able to write for you and share my books and to celebrate that and my b’day, we are having a birthday bash week!

Just visit any of the blogs listed below this week and leave a comment and you’ll be eligible to win a prize from me! At Barbara Vey’s blog, there are tons of other prizes as well!

I’ll be visiting all of these blogs and if you’ve left a comment at any of them, you’ll also be eligible to win a $25 Godiva gift card! The more times I see your name at the different blogs, the more your chances improve to win the gift card. So take a moment and stop by one or all to improve your chances of winning a prize.

The contest ends on Friday, March 13th at midnight EST, so be sure to get your comments in there on time!

Barbara Vey’s Beyond Her Book Blog for lots of fun and giveaways!
http://www.publishersweekly.com/blog/880000288/post/1240041524.html

Fresh Fiction: http://freshfiction.com/page.php?id=1602

Harlequin Paranormal Romance blog: http://paranormalromanceblog.wordpress.com/

Liberty States Fiction Writers (leave a comment on any of the blog posts): http://www.libertystatesfictionwriters.com/blog-read-around-the-world/

Long and Short Reviews: http://longandshortarchives.blogspot.com/search/label/Caridad%20Pineiro

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Fun Friday – Laptop Skins

It’s rare for me to go anywhere without my laptop. I use it every day to write and on the weekends. Take it on vacations, you name it.

So it’s nice to keep it safe and also clean. I even found a fun way to decorate it – laptop skins! This is one from Skinit.com where you can also customize a skin. I’m thinking it might be a good way to do some advertising.

There’s a couple of other places as well besides Skinit.com. Here’s some of them in case you want to check them out on this Fun Friday!

http://www.schtickers.com/
http://www.gelaskins.com/
http://skinweaver.com/
http://www.decalgirl.com/browse.cfm/2,224.htm

Let me know if you check them out and like them or decide to order one!

Just a reminder that next week will be a big b’day bash! Look for a number of guest blogs and prize opportunities next week.

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Wicked Wednesday – Behind the scenes

FURY CALLS by Caridad Pineiro, March 2009, Silhouette NocturneThis Wicked Wednesday, I’m giving you a behind the scenes look at the characters in FURY CALLS, my March 2009 release from Silhouette Nocturne! Just pop on over to my friends at Fresh Fiction by clicking here or cutting and pasting this link into your browser window: http://freshfiction.com/page.php?id=1602

If you leave a comment on the blog over that Fresh Fiction, you’ll be eligible to win a copy of DESIRE CALLS as well as a CALLING T-shirt.

Also – gearing up here for a week long b’day celebration! Starting on March 9, look for a number of posts with info on where I’ll be guest blogging and how you can win some prizes!!

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To Tweet or not to Tweet . . .

Tweet Tweet!To tweet or not to tweet, that is the question. Some of you may be wondering just what a tweet is. A tweet is a post using Twitter.

So now some of you may wondering, What’s Twitter? Wikipedia defines Twitter as “a social networking and micro-blogging service that allows its users to send and read other users’ updates (known as tweets), which are text-based posts of up to 140 characters in length. Updates are displayed on the user’s profile page and delivered to other users who have signed up to receive them. ”

Lots of people are sending tweets. Some believe it is a useful way to promote yourself (see this discussion at Bubblecow) and others do not (see West Pier Words).

I’m undecided, although I’m leaning toward the not. Like Dot at West Pier Words, I’ve gone through the Shelfari, Gather, etc. thing only to find they take up too much time. I do have Myspace and Facebook pages. I’ve found them to be good for letting people know about the books and also, connecting with friends from all over. Same goes for this website and blog. It’s nice to hear from you and it does truly make a difference to me!

As for adding yet another thing to my life – my already crowded and busy life – I think I’ll forego the tweets for right now.

How about you? Do you Twitter? Do you find it for keeping up with friends? For those of you who are published authors, do you like it?

Also, a big thanks to my fellow author Chris Redding for the links to the Twitter discussion. You rock, Chris. You also tweet! LOL!

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Guilty Pleasures – Jared Padalecki

jaredThis month’s Guilty Pleasure Monday is Jared Padalecki, that hot hunk from SUPERNATURAL and formerly of GILMORE GIRLS.

Jared is a real cutie and nice also. My daughter got to meet him at this year’s New York Comic Con! By the way, if you haven’t gone to Comic Con, it was amazing! I plan on trying to go there next year, maybe even as an exhibitor since my next book is a paranormal romantic suspense that would be perfect for Comic Con!

I hope you enjoyed this Monday’s Guilty Pleasure.

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Thoughtful Thursday – Fiscal Responsibility

There are some words that should never be put together. For example, “government” and “fiscal responsibility”.

Witness the latest 410 billion dollar bill passed by the House and headed to the Senate on top of the 780something billion that has already been allocated and the 643 billion that our new President wants for health care reform.

At a time when most of America is counting its pennies and watching its investments cut in half due to the irresponsbility of our financial institutions and fraud from various “investment companies”, our Congress wants to spend money on the following “essential” programs:

  • $500,000 for a Senate “pilot program” that will defray the cost of mass mail postcards to households notifying them of a nearby town meeting to be attended by any senator
  • $200,000 for “Tattoo Removal Violence Prevention Outreach Program”
  • $5.8 million earmark for the “Ted Kennedy Institute for the Senate…for the planning and design of a building & an endowment”
  • National Council of La Raza, $473,000 earmark from Sens. Bingaman and Menendez
  • $2M for for the promotion of astronomy in Hawaii
  • $100,00 For some Maine lobsters
  • $295,000 for Florida Marine Sportfish Replenishment
  • $100,000 for a program called…Seals as Sentinels
      • Courtesy Protecting Capitalism

All in all, the bill contains “about 9,000 such earmarks, at a total of about $3.8 billion.” Courtesy Detroit Free Press.

All of this at a time when in addition to most Americans being worried about their finances, tax increases are being proposed for the top 5% of wage earners as well as reductions in mortgage interest deductions for those same wage earners (like that will help the housing economy!)

Do you think that the top 5% is going to be able to make up the deficit created by the above examples of fiscal irresponsibility? Think again.

Call or e-mail your Senator and urge them to pare down the expenses in this budget and the 9,000 earmarks proposed by both Democrats and Republicans. It’s time to send a big bi-partisan no to such fiscal irresponsibility. To get the contact info for your Senator, please click here.

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