The Fantastic Blog Hop presents Rachel Rueben

Our final guest author on this Blog Hop is… (drumroll) Rachel Rueben! Welcome and prepare to be questioned!

1 Who is your favorite author and what do you enjoy most about his/her writing?

I love Mark Twain for his humor and sensitivity.

2 What is your favorite book or movie?

That’s a hard one, I go through so many phases but I would have to say my favorite book of all time would be Princess Sultana by Jean Sasson because it ignited my inner geek. I followed the entire series LOL! I guess you can say it was my Twilight.

3 What do you find yourself inspired by the most?

Reality and everyday life inspire me more than the arts. I often look at the world and immediately start imagining how I would fix something or change things.

4 Do you feel an affinity to any particular period of history? And do you ever use elements of it in your writing?

I don’t have a propensity to write about any particular period of history, the books I’ve written so far have taken place in modern 21st century Cleveland, to medieval Europe.

5 Have you ever given up on a writing project and why?

Yes, my latest novel Eternal Bond was actually a starter novel which was abandoned for 5 years. I arrogantly tried to follow the trends and one up Stephenie Myer but let’s just say that didn’t quite happen.

6 Out of any of your own creations, do you have a favorite character? Why?

Yes, I love Eternal Bond’s Apollonia, she’s just twisted and ruthless, like a vampire is supposed to be.

7 What scene, out of any project that you have written, do you like the most?

I liked writing the twist in Eternal Bond when my main character Clara, gives in and decides to embrace her immortality. That was a particularly hard dialog to write because it was about accepting who you are and abandoning what you once were. It’s something I still have to learn.

8 Have you ever found yourself, in regular daily activity, thinking like one of your characters?

God I hope not, I’d end up in jail!

9 I was asked this once, a long time ago, so I will ask you: Why do you want to write?

I want to write because I have all these stories in my head, and it would be a waste not to share them.

10 Sum up your current work-in-progress in one sentence/ or one word.

Hot!

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Excerpt of Eternal Bond By Rachel Rueben

When Clara awoke, she wasn’t in the carriage house anymore instead, she was lying on a couch in a dimly light parlor. Hearing a creaking sound, she thought someone was approaching and slowly she got up from the couch. Turning around, Clara saw James hanging from the ceiling.

With a leather noose was wrapped around his neck, the leather cracked, as the body swayed back and forth.

Though her lips moved, nothing came out, but a whimper. A small feminine hand appeared pushing the body, making it sway faster.

Cheerfully, a familiar voice said, “Morning.”

Needing no introduction, Clara recognized who it was. It was the devil’s consort herself, Apollonia. Stepping out from behind the body, she revealed herself and the enormous smile on her face.

Grabbing a candle, Apollonia went over to the body and examined it with a spectacle remarking aloud, “Nicely executed, just deep enough and very clean!”

Shaking from head to toe Clara stood there scared silly.

Running her fingers through James’ hair, she said, “He was chosen just for you young, strapping—delectable.”

Clara began feeling ill, upon hearing it was all a set up.

Looking over her shoulder at Clara, Apollonia said, “I told you Clara, thou art highly favored.”

Apollonia went back to amusing herself with the corpse, using pressure points to making the eyes bulge and lips move.

Eventually, she tore herself away from her entertainment to talk further with Clara. Reaching out to touch her, Clara immediately jerked back from her. Though Clara had failed in a most miserable way, she wasn’t ready to embrace those failures.

Instead, she was drawn to a window that looked like it was slowly shedding tears. To her, it seemed as though the angels themselves were shedding tears from heaven. Watching as the drizzle slowly crept down the glass, Clara found herself unable to react anymore, so she didn’t. Looking over at the body and out the window again, she stood still.

Yes, she hated him, she hated him more than anything she ever had in her life. And like a monster, she robbed him of his life, a right reserved only for God and God alone. All these thoughts tortured her as she was confronted with her new reality.

Sinking deeper and deeper into despair, Apollonia spoke up and said with a tender compassion, “I know what you’re thinking, and none of it is true!”

Bewildered Clara said, “You know not my thoughts, only God does” and she believed that, but she questioned whether He even cared anymore. Her very soul was being eaten alive by her enemies, and all she received was silence from the throne of The Most High.

Taking the more sensitive approach, she spoke aloud everything in Clara’s tortured mind. “You spend all your life following their commandments, whipping your very thoughts into submission. Then, just as you taste mortality you discover, there’ll be no reward for you! All those years of fearful sowing, yielded nothing but the whirlwind!”

Clara looked back at her in shock, because she had managed to recite every single one of her thoughts. And she knew she was in trouble, because Apollonia was starting to make sense.

Meeting her in the middle of the room, Clara asked, “What do you want?”

“Salvation just like you!” Apollonia answered.

“After death comes judgment, not salvation.” Clara said.

Sensing she was on the verge, Apollonia continued the philosophical assault asking, “Death itself was judgment on man, so what is this?”

Clara could only answer, “I do not know.”

“Then let us teach you!” She said trying to secure the victory.

To seal the deal, Apollonia extended her hand in friendship and without looking, Clara accepted it.

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Rachel Rueben went to school to become an administrative assistant but instead, wound up an author.  In her defense, she tried freelance writing, virtual assisting, and blogging to pay the bills, but creating worlds was her one and only passion.

This past summer, Rachel entered the sacred order of authorhood with the release of her first novel “Hag” which made it to #10 on the Amazon’s Women’s and Girl’s Literature list.

Please follow Rachel Rueben on:

http://www.twitter.com/RachelRueben

https://www.facebook.com/AuthorRachelRueben

http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5786176.Rachel_Rueben

https://plus.google.com/103876966023752548817/posts

http://www.rachelrueben.com

and Rachel’s Tumblr: http://rachelrueben.tumblr.com/

See more from her on:

Dellani Oakes: http://dellanioakes.wordpress.com/ http://writersanctuary.blogspot.com/

Juli Morgan: www.julipagemorgan.com

www.julipagemorgan.com/blog

Karen Vaughan: www.karenvaughanbooks.com www.karenwritesmurder.wordpress.com

Kristen Duvall: http://www.kristenduvall.com/

Crimson Kildare:  http://thrutheglass.net/

Karina Gioertz:  http://friedgatortail.wordpress.com/

S. A. Hussey:  http://sahussey1.wordpress.com/

Please go support their hard work and beautiful blog pages!