War's favorite Battlefield

I've been asked countless times, War, what is your favorite battlefield to fight on? And, though I have traveled the world, many universes, and each and every persons' mind... I must say that my favorite field to fight on was the sacred ground of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.

In 1863, two forces (inspired by me) The North and The South collided on this hallowed ground. Over 50,000 men lost their lives and far more were sent home having seen the devastation I leave in my wake.  

If you are allowed the opportunity to visit Gettysburg you will find it much changed from last I visited it.  No more wounded men and dead dress the field they are replace with placards and monuments.

Shops that used to be houses, hiding the townsfolk now house shops for you to purchase memorabilia or restaurants. How I long for the days of chaos, but no fear... go visit your favorite National Park, before I make my next appearance.  I assure you, it's much closer than you think.

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Fight on!
No matter the outcome, I always win. ~ War

Famine is Everywhere

Famine is everywhere.

Hunger for food, hunger for money, hunger for love, and the list goes on and on …

Do you want to fight me, do you want to fight famine? I will give you the secrets on how to wage war on me. There is really only one and it’s not a secret.

Random Acts of Kindness.

If you want to defeat me then do something nice for someone every day. Go up to someone who is having a bad day and give them a compliment. Give food to a food bank or a family in need. Pay for the coffee or fast food meal of the person behind you in line. Help out at shelter or soup kitchen. These are only a few of the things you can do to defeat me. 

I am only a symbol of what people are doing to themselves. These days, greed is what is causing me, Famine, to spread. The sense of community and helping each other is a rare thing these days and if we do not get back to basics, back to performing kindness without any personal gain, the Famine will continue to take over. 

If this hunger continues, people will ruin themselves. Human purpose in life is not simply to sustain that one human. Yes, make yourselves happy, do things for yourself, but it’s not that hard to do something in the community to help someone else. You could change a life or maybe even save a life. 

Just do it. Go do a random act of kindness and see how it makes you feel. 

As for me, I am sitting back, watching the world feed on its own hunger and eat each other alive. 

Famine Out~~

Awesome Zucchini Bread Recipe

I love to bake. Hate to cook, love to bake. But, in the fall my baking goes crazy. The house is always full of yummy treats to make you gain an extra few pounds. So, today I’m going to give you one of my favorite zucchini bread recipes. I don’t even remember where I got this one, its written on an old piece of paper I keep in my drawer. Lol

All right, You ready?

Here is what you need.

3 cups of all purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
3 teaspoons of cinnamon (I use just a bit extra, no need to be exact on this)
3 eggs
2 cups vegetable oil (I ran out once and used olive oil because that was all I had and it worked fine.)
2 ¼ cup white sugar
2 teaspoons of vanilla extract. (Again, a tad bit extra doesn’t hurt anything.)
2 cups grated zucchini
1 cup chopped walnuts. (I never use the walnuts because I don’t like them.)

Now you are ready to mix and bake! Here’s what to do.

1. Grease and flour two 8 x 4 inch pans. (I use all different kinds of pans.)
2.  Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C).
3. Sift flour, salt, baking powder, soda, and cinnamon together in a bowl.
4. Beat eggs, oil, vanilla, and sugar together in a large bowl.
5. Add sifted ingredients to the creamed mixture, and beat well.
6. Stir in zucchini and nuts until well combined. Pour batter into pans.
7. Bake for about 40 to 60 minutes depending on what size pan you use. Cool in pan on rack for 20 minutes. Take the bread out of the pan and let it cool even longer.

~~Stay Hungry, Famine Out  

Creating Monsters

Hey Everyone, Conquest here and we are going to talk about creating monsters today!
 
The character bio of the antagonist in your story is as important as the protagonist.  Sometimes it’s difficult to remember that the bad guy has to be as completely fleshed out as the good guy.  He needs personality traits, he needs general repetitive sayings, and he needs motivations.  A truly believable monster will have a definite reason for what he’s doing.

I try to think of it as an experiment in profiling.  Whether you are using a supernatural creature or a human being, you need to know how your monster came to be who he is today.  Fully knowing his back story will help you write him better.   You don’t have to give your readers his entire life’s story, but knowing it will help make him more believable.
Let’s take a look at some popular monsters and see how they add up in the believability category.

Frankenstein:
Made of many different men.  Amazing strength.  Lacking intelligence.  Capable of strong emotion.  (Uh oh....there’s the culprit right there.  Strong emotion is what drives poor Frankenstein.  Most of us can identify with him because we are also capable of the same thing. His emotion controls his motivations, so we understand why he’s doing what he does.)

Freddy Kruger:
Locked in spirit realm, can only interact when the victim is in a dream state.  Omnipotent in dream state.  Can control every aspect of victim’s dream.  Deadly.  Warped sense of humor.  Filled with rage.  Seeks vengeance on everyone he can find.  (Uh oh.....again strong emotion.  Freddy was burned alive by the parents of the children he allegedly hurt in real life.  He genuinely feels the need for retribution.)

Hannibal Lector:
Seemingly unemotional.  Serial Killer.  Highly intelligent.  Vicious, brutal, sadistic, narcissistic, psychopath.  Now Hannibal is much more complex than the previous two characters.  Throughout the books we see traces of humanity.  We do see some emotionally motivated actions, but for the most part he seems incapable of any real emotion other than anger.  Until you get to Hannibal Rising.  When you go back to the beginning and see all the traumatic events he endured, your initial hatred and disgust for the monster transforms.  By then we can clearly see how he ended up being who he is and why he kills.

These are the things that make a monster unforgettable.  And that’s exactly the type of antagonist you want to have in your story.  So when you are writing, don’t skimp on the bad guy.  Be sure he has grounded motivations for what he’s doing.

~Conquest~

(Willow Cross)

Good Eats from Conquest

This is a dish I actually thought up myself.  I’m always looking for ways to shorten dinner preparation because I’m ALWAYS short on time.  My two crock pots are my best friends when it comes to cooking as they are perfect for saving time and energy.

Crock Pot Pork Casserole

Ingredients
Sliced Pork Loin (up to 10 pieces depending on crock size)
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 jar/can beef gravy
1 can corn
1 pkg. onion soup mix
4 potatoes
1 bag shredded cheddar cheese
Salt
Pepper

Place the sliced loin in the bottom of your crock.  In a separate bowl, mix the canned soup, gravy, and dry soup mix.  Add 1 can of water.  Cover the loin slices in mixture, salt and pepper lightly and cook on high for 4 hours.
After 4 hours, drain corn and dump into pot.  Clean potatoes (Pealing is not necessary. Your preference.)  Slice potatoes in quarter inch slices and press down into gravy mixture.  If you will not be eating for several hours, turn the crock down to medium.  If you intend to eat within two hours, leave it on high.
When you are ready to eat, stir pot and dish into bowls.  Spread the shredded cheese over each bowl to your preference.

My kids go nuts over this recipe.  I hope yours will enjoy it too!

~Conquest~
(Willow Cross)

Don’t Fear the Reaper

Ever hear that song, “Don’t Fear the Reaper”? I love that song, but probably because it is all about me, Death. I know it’s an old song, but compared to my age, it is actually new, isn’t it?

I’m a nice guy, I wouldn’t hurt a flea. I take no pleasure in my job, no more than any employee of any other company does. But in the same way that the trash has to be taken out and the lawn has to be mowed, somebody has to do it, and it may as well be me. That said, let’s get down to business.

One day you’ll meet me face to face. You have no choice in the matter, and for the most part, you don’t like to acknowledge that I’m waiting for you somewhere along the road of your life. Why be afraid of me? You know it’s inevitable, so why worry?

Oh, I see. You are enjoying your life right now. You have it good, well maybe not too good, but you think maybe one day things might get better. They might, I won’t stand in your way, but if you make it big and drive that new BMW at 100 mph on the freeway in the wrong direction after half a bottle of liquor, I can only guess that you are looking for me. I’ll be waiting for you, yeah, with bells on.

But, fear me? There is no reason for that. Fear of me just gets in the way of living your life to its fullest, of making the most of the time you have and the potential you have inside of you.  

I say, just do it. Climb that mountain, jump out of that plane, bungee jump, run that marathon, swim with the sharks. Don’t just sit on the couch and wait for me. I can find you wherever you are. No need to wait at home, watching TV. Grab your life by the balls and party like there is no tomorrow. It’s the least you can do!

Am I scaring you talking like this? Don’t be afraid. Besides taxes, I’m the only thing in life that you can count on. I am the only sure thing, the final show, the Big Fucking Kahuna Grand Finale! I’m not asking you to get with me yet, just know that I’m here and ready when you are.

So, what are you waiting for? Get out there and do something with that life of yours before I take it.

We’ll get together later, I promise!

The Fourth Horseman

An Autumn meal to make War proud!

I've been asked to provide the recipe of my favorite meal. I took a few moments to ponder this request and obviously the first thing that entered my mind was fear, hatred and malice. However, for the purposes of this blog I will give you the recipe of something fun.

Crockpot Chili

What you'll need;
1 1/2 lbs of ground beef
1 lb of diced steak (any kind, except cubed)
5 cloves of garlic (minced)
1 medium vidalia onion (diced)
1 medium green pepper (diced)
1- 4 oz can of mushrooms (bits and pieces)
1- 14.5 oz can of diced tomatoes with chilies
1- 40 oz can of light red kidney beans
1- 15.5 oz can of dark red kidney beans
1- 15.5 oz can of black beans
1- 15.5 oz can of northern beans
2- 1 lb 13 oz cans of tomato sauce
2- TBSP of chili powder
2- jalapena peppers deseeded and diced (optional, for the heat lovers)
2- TBSP of olive oil

Directions;
Dice your green peppers, onion, and garlic. 

In a medium skillet pour your olive oil in and turn the heat on medium.

Meanwhile turn your crockpot on low/medium and add your beans, tomatoes, tomato sauce, mushrooms and chili powder. Give it a good turn.

Once your skillet is hot saute' your green peppers, onion and garlic. Make sure you don't burn your garlic.

When the onion has a transparent appearance, you're ready to add the veggies to the crockpot. Give a good stir again.

Now in the same skillet cook your ground beef thoroughly. It should become scrambled cooked hamburger. When there is no pink left, add it the crockpot and stir again.

Last step... cook your diced steak. I always add a little extra chili powder for kick.

Again, when there is no pink left, add it to you pot and give it another stir. Put the lid on and let that bad boy cook for a good 5 hours.

Enjoy the heat! To help cool you down, check out the adult drink below.

Apple Cider with a double twist

What you'll need;

1 gallon of Apple Cider

1 bottle of Pinnacle Caramel Apple Vodka

Directions;

Fill a tall glass with ice and add 2 shot of the vodka, fill the rest of the way with cider.

Give the kiddies a glass of the cider without the alcohol, of course and enjoy!

Fight on!

No matter the outcome, I always win. ~ War

Light'em up!

That has always been my motto.

When I come to visit you, it is not in the confines of your frilly, silly, safe dreams. No. I enjoy lurking in the unfathomable recesses of your most deep-seated nightmares; devouring the expression of utmost fear on your face firsthand, when you finally realize the reality of what my mere presence means- War has arrived.

Of the four of us, I am the one most in favor of conflict, in fact, you could say that I thrive on it. Through the ages, your society's constant desire to build something up only to tear it back has been my nourishment. I dine on your self-loathing, failed superiority, fear mongering, turmoil and inability to co-exist. For that I must thank you.

In the mundane routine of your daily lives, you don't realize that I am around just out of view spinning my amber webs of deceit. Like a mistress, I whisper to you, each of you exactly what needs to be said to entice you to spill the venom I have planted in your subconscious about your neighbor, friends, co-workers or even your wife.

As you can see, it's not only in far off lands that you try to fight me. I have infiltrated your very soul, your mind. Again, I must thank you. Because of that, I dine well. 

But, this is both, my gift and curse to you. You have been given free will and yet almost every time you chose to squander that freedom and seek me out. Unfortunately, you can never win where I am concerned. For I take neither side, I only devour everything.

Fight on!

No matter the outcome, I always win. ~ War

Annual Four Horsemen Spooktacular!

You are cordially invited to the Annual Four Horsemen Halloween Spooktacular. Click on the picture above to accept our invitation. We can't be sure that you'll survive, but you'll definitely have a great time. Come and meet the horsemen, play a few games, enter the rafflecopter and win some fabulous prizes by some pretty amazing authors.

I'm always ready to bring it, so step up! ~War

Writers of the Parapocalypse

Welcome to the blog of The Four Horsemen, we are the writers of the parapocalypse.

Today is the very first post on this blog and the first one is always a post where you want to make an impression, where you want to woo people with your awesomeness. The first blog post, however, is always a hard one for me. So, I thought the best topic for this first post would be to talk about friendship, teamwork and writing. 

I urge you, however, to check out the awesome description of The Four Horsemen in the left sidebar. Make sure to browse the rest of the links on the page as well.

The reason I want to talk about friendship, teamwork and writing is because that is the premise of The Four Horsemen. The four of us have been friends for quite a while and we have been working together as a team for about a year. About a month ago, we decided that we needed a name and hence, we became, The Four Horsemen. 

First and foremost, we are friends. Having met through social networking, which is a huge part of our careers. The team began simply as helping and supporting each other. We all have strengths and weaknesses that the others do not have, which is part of why working as a team can be so valuable.

Writing, is a passion for all of us and we are lucky enough to have each other, as well as a whole community of authors to share our passion with. This thing called writing is what brought us together and now we are lucky enough to have built friendships to last a lifetime.

Don’t think that working as a team is all roses and glitter though, shit hits the fan all the time. We learn through trial and error about this just like everything else in life. There are a ton of things about working as a team that are good, but when you have four writers with very different personalities all trying to get their way, things can go downhill pretty quickly. So, just like everyone else, we learn to communicate, to give in once in a while, and to be honest. These are the main components any team will need to survive.

We love doing things together as a team, which is the main reason for The Four Horsemen. There is something about the four of us and our chemistry together that people seem to like and we want to appease our audience, so this blog will be updated by all of us on a rotation. I promise, this blog is going to be fun, informational, and chalk full of the paranormal. So make sure to check in and see what’s happening here and there.

I hope you are all having a wonderful start to the fall season. We have some great fall posts lined up for you all!

~Stay Hungry, 

   ~Famine, out...