Nov 26, 2013

All Things Occult & A Book Giveaway

All photos by Marnie Shelton
When I was 12 years old my Mum gave me my first tarot deck, which I read frighteningly well, and I've been obsessed with all things occult ever since.

Many years later I fulfilled a dream of mine with my co-writer Scarlett Amaris in writing and publishing Saurimonde, a dark fantasy filled with all things occult, which you can win below.



Goodreads Book Giveaway

Saurimonde by Melissa St. Hilaire

Saurimonde

by Melissa St. Hilaire

Giveaway ends December 06, 2013.
See the giveaway details at Goodreads.
Enter to win

This past week we threw together an impromptu video and photoshoot to promote Saurimonde and its upcoming sequel.

Jeremy Graham films while I explain that I'm holding a giant bag of cocaine - kidding! It's flour we used to create our circle in the dirt.

We're still logging video and pouring over photos, but here are a few images of our Hunter's Moon shoot from sigils to séances.

“In the names of the Goddess and the Horned God, we cast this circle.”
Me in makeup & hair by Yvette Lera
Scarlett Amaris in wardrobe by Yvette Lera
The Authors, me & Scarlett
There are unseen things in the darkness.
"In the name of the Lady of the Moon..."
"...and the Horned Lord of Death and Resurrection..."
"Communicate with us, oh Spirit, and move among us."
Stay tuned for our upcoming author interviews, videos, more photos, & new tales of Saurimonde. And don't forget to enter to win a signed copy of Saurimonde via Goodreads.

In the mean time, check out our Saurimonde promo trailer:


Extra special thanks to everyone who helped out on the shoot: Jeremy Graham, Scarlett Amaris, Yvette Lera, Marnie Shelton, Manzin, & Joel Westendorf.

Nov 5, 2013

Cosplay at Comikaze

I love dressing in costume, which is why Halloween is my favorite holiday, but this year, while I attended several fun Halloween events, none called for a costume. Yet, here I was with two costumes from two of my favorite Sci-Fi franchises. What was a gal to do? Then I remembered Comikaze.


I've never been much of a con goer - Ack! Crowds! - but I could not resist the call of all those vendors, nevermind the panels, and so I braved the crowds for Comikaze last year with a Groupon discount for one day and loved every minute of it. I had to go again.

Spoils of Comikaze vendors part 1: Boston Metaphysical Society 1 & 2, Star Trek Tricorder, Star Wars Chewbacca tank, Rocket Raccoon T-shirt, & more.
part 2: Batman bikini & shorts, Tromeo & Juliet, & A Clockwork Orange soundtrack.
We planned to go only one day this year so I had to choose between my costumes: A T-shirt dress styled after a Starfleet uniform (from ThinkGeek) paired with my phaser and communicator or, if I was feeling brave, my newly acquired Slave Leia costume (from Halloweentown).

I wasn't feeling too brave, so I pulled on my black leggings, retro boots, and Star Trek dress, then strapped on my official accessories with an old GM belt and various tool-belt pouches. It was sort of semi-cosplay. Not totally gung-ho, perhaps even slightly half-assed looking, but I was comfortable so that's all that mattered.

Beam me up, Scotty.

I had a lot of fun that day, but only one person complimented me on my costume and no one asked for a photo - not that I was dressing up for that reason, I just wanted to have some fun playing pretend, but I couldn't help but notice all the other cosplayers constantly getting stopped for photos.

While we were aimlessly wondering around we bumped into our friend Ming (of Comic Book Men fame) and I confessed I might be returning the next day in a Slave Leia costume...only if I was feeling brave, to which he replied, "You can totally rock Slave Leia!" and my confidence zoomed. That was it. I was gonna do it. I haven't been doing weights, yoga, and Dance Central like crazy for nothing, after all. The end goal was always to feel comfortable enough in my own skin to wear that wacky metal bikini.*

The costume took hours to put together. I searched the internet for tips on what shoes to wear (most suggested wearing gray Uggs or sandals if you can't get tailored boots to match the movie's), how to do my hair (many suggested using wigs but I have a lot of hair so I went for it, still really could have used extensions - oh well, next time!), and what my makeup should look like. Then once I had it all put together, I checked myself out in the mirror and thought, "What if no one asks for a photo?" and shook it off as no big deal, but then I thought, "Shit, what if someone does?" Panic. So I practiced poses in the mirror until I found one I liked. Just in case.

Suck in the gut. Now don't breathe.
In the end a ton of people came up to me to the point where I kind of lost track of them all and it was so much fun. At first I was a little nervous and shy, but that quickly dissipated because everyone was so cool and friendly and polite. It was just an awesome experience. I'm already trying to think of what to wear next year to Comikaze. This time I want to go all 3 days and dress up in 3 different costumes. I might do Slave Leia again, but get a bigger chain this time maybe, different shoes, a big braid extension, and her weapon if I can find one, but then what else? Maybe Tank Girl? Maybe a nicer Star Trek uniform? The Lollipop Chainsaw girl? That one might be fun, but I'd need to find that specific chainsaw to make it work. Padmé? Death? Kaylee? Who else? American McGee's Alice???

Here are some of the Slave Leia photos:





(*Mine's actually more like plastic but metal sounded way cooler so, y'know, poetic license and whatnot.)