14/04/2013 - Need A Good Book To Read?

Yes, yes, yes, I know. I am a very bad blogger >:( But hate me all you want, because I have a new post for you!

But first, I sincerely apologise for not posting like I should have. It is very irresponsible of me. The only excuse I can offer is that I am very busy with university right now. That, and I have no idea what to write about. I need suggestions people! I'll be adding a poll on the sidebar soon, so keep an eye out for that.

Anywho, since my friend Geri is really slack at answering her phone, the weekly book review is no more. Instead, I am recommending a whole new blog, dedicated to book reviews.

This blog is called 'ALPHA reader', and I'm not sure how often they update because I've just started following them myself, but they're away right now so they're taking a hiatus from posting. However, I still recommend checking out this blog if you're desperately seeking a new book to read.

Well, I'm going to bed. It's nearly 10pm where I live and I have Uni tomorrow, so I better get some sleep. Goodnight readers! (:

8/04/2013 - Future Spells

TO SEE THE FUTURE

Passing moments as you dance
Call upon my sacred glance
Call upon my witches sight
Bless me with vision, a sacred light,
Moving time, making flight
Give me now a second sight




TO VISIT THE FUTURE

My knowledge gone, I must move on
Take me to the future at once





TO RETURN FROM THE FUTURE

My time is up, I found what lack
Send me home, send me back





TO SUMMON FROM THE FUTURE

With knowledge that is not yet sound
Keep me rooted to the ground
Begging for a gift to flay
Send it back to help my aid





TO SEND TO THE FUTURE

There are things not of this time
nor in their rightful and proper place
I use the power inside of me
Send them back through time and space

07/04/2013 - Truth Spells

MIDNIGHT TRUTH SPELL
Also known as: Full Moon Truth Spell

Moon and tide please help me now
I seek the truth here not yet found,
Let this night be unlike others
Let the noble show their colours,
The moon is seeking out her sun
Make the evil scream and run,
And by the power that is me
So as I will it, so shall it be.





HOUSEHOLD TRUTH SPELL

For those who want the truth revealed
Open their hearts and secrets unseal
From now until it's now again
From now which the memories end
For those who are now in this house
Only the truth will be heard from their mouths





ONLY ONE TO KNOW THE TRUTH

I cast a spell in every day,
To see the truth, to know the way,
I conjure the truth by the power of me,
Give thy truth unto me.

06/04/2013 - REVEALED! Extras of the Venefica Series!

Hello! First off, I'd like to give a shout out to my little brother Kyle, who's turning 15 today! Gosh he's getting old!

Haha, but seriously, I'm posting some extras from my upcoming book series Venefica, such as spells, potions, and other stuff. Keep an eye out over the next few days for them (:

05/04/2013 - Book Review: A Most Determined Woman

Reviewed by Ashleigh Neame

Ask any collier's family: making one pay check last from one week to the next is HARD. What happens if your breadwinner falls ill? What if he can't work for a day? Or even a week?

This is the life of Sarah Hawke. Brought up by her mother and the man she calls her 'Step-da', Sarah has lived as a miners daughter since she was two. She is used to living in a 1-bedroom house, sleeping in the kitchen and 'bathing in a tub in front of the range.' Having been told that her real father had died of consumption, Sarah holds no hope of her situation changing in any way, especially when she is in love with a young miner named Gordy. However, when her 'step-da' has a stroke and it looks as if Sarah will be forced into 'skivvying', her real father, Jock Hawke, owner of a vast shipping empire, shows up with an unbelievable proposition: go and live with him and have everything that she could possibly want. Sarah is sorely tempted (wouldn't you be?) but when she discovers the catch, she becomes hesitant. If Sarah chooses to live with Jock, she must never return to Netherton, the mining town in which she lives. In return, her father will pay her mother 100 pounds PLUS, double her 'step-da's' normal pay check every week.

Sarah's mother does not want her to go. 'Your father has...moods,' she says. 'I forbid you to go and live with him.' Sarah ignores this and goes to live with her father. Perhaps it was the promise of riches that enticed her? Guess again. She chooses to live with him for the sake of her mothers wellbeing. She arrives at 'Steillsmuir', the palatial manor that her father built. To Sarah, it is magnificent, but her most wonderful luxuries are the fact that she has a real bed, and she can also have a proper bath, twice every day if she wants!

You would think that suddenly going from having nothing to having everything would go to her head, but it does not. She manages to stay grounded and develops a love of learning (something that I think all teachers would love in their students!). She studies bookkeeping, accountancy, literacy classics, and even helps her father with his business. But not only does she have a head for numbers, she also develops a taste for art. When she sees one of her father's employee's paintings, she commisions a work by him and gets him into art school, paying for his fees as well. The employee, Adam, will become Sarah's partner towards the end of the book, when they both get kidnapped during the Boer/Afrikaner war in Africa.

As we learn early on, Sarah's father has 'moods.' These 'moods' turn out to be mild schizophrenia, becoming full blown schizophrenia when he discovers that his wife, Sarah's mother, has committed suicide over the death of Sarah's 'step-da'. Because Sarah is away on a trip to the West Indies with her fiance, Captain Matthew Wilson, to recover from the smallpox, she returns to a mess in which she is on the verge of losing everything, and takes over her fathers business.

Even when one of her fathers most trusted employees plots to bring the business down with a rival company, she fights her way back up to the top, enlisting the help of an old flame, Ian Monteith. She leaves her STD ridden fiance, marries Ian Monteith (becoming Viscountess Ascog), has a 'wee baby boy' named Robert, stays staunch when her husband dies in a riding accident, and falls for the man who once loved her when she was naive, Adam Tennant (the painter who's tuition fees she paid). Throughout tumultuous years, Sarah remains an inspiration to any female wanting to make it in what we call a "man's world".

05/04/2013 - Rebel With A Cause by Ashleigh Neame - Excerpt 3

They drove through a series of winding streets and when they hit a long straight, Kaitlyn relaxed a bit. That was, until she saw the U-turn at the dead end. Bekah slowed down a little then pulled on the handbrake, swiftly manoeuvring the car around the cones. Kaitlyn felt the seatbelt cut into her when she fell against it. She hit the back of the seat with a thump.

Ouch, she cried mentally. Whiplash.


They made their way back the way they came, with a few variations along the way. Bekah kept on pushing the speed limits, leaving Kaitlyn terrified out of her mind. Without either of them seeing it coming, Bekah lost control of the car. She swerved dangerously and came perilously close to hitting a lamppost on the passenger side – where Kaitlyn was sitting. Kaitlyn screamed.

04/04/2013 - Fighting the Demon

This short story is published, but it's free, so I'm posting up here (: Hope you enjoy! It's also the beginning of a discontinued series - I lost the files for the rest of the series so this is it.

Alexis rushed down the crumbling stairs in a frenzy of nerves. She was late for workagain and couldn’t find her car keys. She ran into her shabby kitchen, almost slipping on the puddle that had formed from the overflowing kitchen sink.

“Shit!” she cursed, running to turn off the taps. Her feet skidded on the worn lino.

She emptied the sink and moved to the coffee maker. The last dregs of coffee were sitting at the bottom. Having no time to make any more, she added lukewarm water and grabbed her favourite coffee mug down from the shelf. As she opened the door it came off - the hinges had obviously rusted through. She slammed it down on the wobbly kitchen table and turned back to her coffee. Cold. She put it in the microwave but it was on the blink again. Frustrated, she downed the soggy mixture and slammed her cup on the counter.

“Disgusting,” she growled.

She turned away from the empty mug and searched for her car keys again. Nowhere could she find them. She saw her flatmates keys peeking out from under the fridge and dived for them. She was sure her flatmate had taken her car when he couldn’t find his own keys.

She dumped the keys in her bag and ran to the back door. The front door had long since been boarded over.

A fat grey rat scurried in front of her and she screamed, flailing her arms and dropping her bag. She scooped it up before the rat could get inside and pulled on the door. It jammed on her first pull. She tried again but the door still wouldn’t open. She looked out the window and discovered that it had been boarded up too.

She went to the laundry and climbed on top of the washing machine so she could reach the window. She jimmied it open and looked out. The rosebush was right below her but that couldn’t be helped. She jumped out of the window and shredded her tights on the thorns.

“Aargh!!!” she screamed, pulling her tights off and stuffing them in her bag. God she needed to find a new place to live.

She stood up and ran out to the roadside. As she suspected, her flatmate had taken her car. She opened his car, put the key in the ignition and switched the car on. As she moved into gear and pulled away, the exhaust went ‘bang!’ and small volumes of smoke started streaming from under the bonnet.

Alexis was so preoccupied that she didn’t even notice the dark-skinned man watching her from the bushes.

Ariyus shimmered back to the underground, bowing to his master. His knees cracked on the hard cobblestone floor.

He murmured an apology before standing up, his hands crossed.

“I know who she is,” he said gruffly, in his low voice. His mouth was hidden by his giant moustache and distorted by the unsightly scar on half of his face.

“And?” asked his master, his silky voice tainted with boredom. It echoed around the chamber, spookily whispering his words back to him.

Ariyus shifted uneasily. “She is no older than 22, perhaps. Light brown hair, and violet eyes. She has an intense aura – I know she is the one with the power.”

“Well done,” said his master, flipping a gold coin in his fingers. “I knew feeding you that aura reading witch was a good idea.

Ariyus bowed at the waist, deeply. He shimmered out, quickly.

“You’re late.” Her boss was not pleased. Alexis watched as she swivelled in her chair, tapping her pen on the dull, pine desk.

Alexis bowed her head, worrying.

“You do realise that this is your last warning. If it happens again then you are out.” Her boss’ voice was stern and sharp. The tempo of the pen increased.

“Yes, ma’am,” Alexis replied in a tiny voice. Even her delicate good looks and honest soul could not get her out of this one.

“Remember, Alexis. Just because you are by best friend’s niece does NOT mean that I will continue to be lenient. The rest of the staff are asking questions. Just remember, Alexis. No more warnings.”

Alexis sniffed unhappily. It wasn’t totally her fault that she was late.

“Stop crying, you still have a job.” Her boss shooed her out of her office.

***

Alexis sat at her desk, staring at the plans for a new shopping mall downtown. It was going to be huge, and she was the rookie in charge of it. If she stuffed up when choosing the decor and customers didn’t like it then she was out for sure. She would go down as the biggest idiot decorator in history. She trusted herself to get it right, but the mall had a very small budget for such a big place and really, a master was needed to pull this off.

She sighed, feeling dejected.

“I am never going to pull this off,” she announced to thin air.

“Oh, come on,” smiled her co-worker, Andrew. He had just peeped around to her cubicle. “You have the most brains in this building.”

“Right,” she said, turning to face him. “That’s why I live in a condemned, boarded up building with a flatmate who steals my car.”

“Right,” he replied, smiling. “You know, there’s a spare room at mine if you’re interested. Cheap rent, too.”

“Let me guess, it’s boarded up, too?”

“No, just the opposite: 7 bedrooms, 4 bathrooms, 2 living areas. It’s huge. Some old lady rents it out for, like, 50 kaching a week.” Andrew rubbed his fingers together, indicating money. “You wanna come check it out after work?”

Alexis hesitated, wondering if she should. She didn’t even know the guy.

Andrew saw the hesitation in her eyes. “Don’t worry; there are 4 other girls. It’s totally respectable.”

“Ok, sure,” Alexis replied. That was a huge weight off her chest. She hated living in that hell hole. What could be worse?

***

Ariyus watched as she moved around her office. He was pretending to be a client, transmogrifying himself into a famous basketball player. Thank god he had eaten that witch, Delia.

“So, sir,” the annoying employee was saying. “You would be best to look at upwards of $15,000 for the kind of redecoration that you want.”

Ariyus looked at the employee without blinking. “I heard that Alexis Osiris works here. I would like to see her instead. I hear that she is good at getting luxury redecorations on low budgets.”

“I’m sorry, Mr. Corones, she is busy with the new shopping mall downtown. She won’t have time for anything else for the next few months.”

“I don’t care,” Ariyus growled. “I wish to see Alexis Osiris NOW!!”

***

Alerted by the yelling coming from Andrew’s booth, Alexis rushed over to see what was wrong. Before she could get there, however, huge bangs and crashes filled the room.

Alexis stood in the doorway, horrified at what she saw. Andrew was in the corner, whimpering. His desk was turned at a funny angle and a big, muscled, dark-skinned man with a huge scar on his face was standing in the middle of the room. He turned when he sensed her, snarling.

Terrified, Alexis waved her hands and froze the room. The man froze for a second but fought through, unfreezing and growling even more threateningly.

“You shouldn’t have done that, Alexis Osiris. I am more powerful than you!” he roared, stomping his feet.

Alexis backed out of the room, grabbing her keys and hurrying to her filing cabinet. She unlocked the bottom draw and pulled out her diary. She had kept it since she was a little girl, when her mother was still alive. She remembered her mother telling her about witches fighting demons and writing them down in the diary for Alexis.

Alexis flicked through the pages, looking for the picture of the demon invading her work. She couldn’t find it fast enough and the demon crashed into her cubicle, pushing everything over and creating havoc. She turned around and froze him again, moving her desk (and anything else heavy that she could find) on top of him.

She turned back to her diary, holding her hands over the pages and willing them to open to the right page. A wind picked up and the pages flipped by themselves, eventually falling open to the right page.

Alexis turned around and saw that the demon had unfrozen and was struggling to move. She froze him again then turned back to read the page.

Ariyus.

A recently ‘born’ demon that was turned after an almost fatal car crash. He was gifted the power to absorb a witches powers by eating them. He is a particular favourite of the Demon King because of his near invincibility.

“Shit. He’s near invincible?!” Alexis turned and looked at him, horrified.

“That’s right, bitch. You can’t defeat me,” Ariyus laughed.

Alexis froze him again, reading on.

Ariyus was deathly allergic to peanuts in his human life and is still sensitive to them if inhaled. A simple jar of peanut butter is enough to kill him.

“Peanut butter?” Alexis laughed. “That’s all it will take to kill you?”

Alexis continued to laugh at Ariyus. She laughed so hard that she didn’t realise that she had no peanut butter.

“Do you have any peanut butter?” Ariyus smiled evilly. “Of course you don’t. You’re allergic too. I can sense it in your aura.”

Alexis stopped laughing and froze. She hadn’t thought of that.

“See?” Ariyus’ laugh mocked her.

Alexis froze Ariyus and read some more.

He can also be killed by sticking a demonic blade into his stomach or chanting this simple spell:

Evil eyes look unto thee,
May you soon extinguished be.
Bend my will to the power of three,
Eye of Earth, evil and accursed.

Alexis turned towards Ariyus. She was getting pretty tired now, although she could not tell. After freezing Ariyus so many times she had exhausted her power. This did not stop her.

She took a deep breath then looked at Ariyus. She unfroze him and stared at him.

“Evil eyes look unto thee, May you soon extinguished be. Bend my will to the power of three, Eye of Earth, evil and accursed.”

The spell hung in the air for a moment. Light seemed to be coming from inside Ariyus’ stomach and he looked down.

“Noooooooo! How can this be?” he cried. He shook his fists in the air and his stomach exploded in a burst of flame, sending ashes into the air. The ashes floated down to the ground and went ‘Poof!’

03/04/2013 - Rebel With A Cause by Ashleigh Neame - Excerpt 1

Kaitlyn watched from a distance as Carter punched Marcus in the face. She heard Bekah screaming at Carter, and he ignored her. She saw Marcus fall to the ground as Carter shoved him.

“You’re a user!” Carter screamed. “You stole my girl and now you’re using my cousin! She’s like my sister! And you knew that, you son of a bitch, didn’t you?!”


Marcus scrambled away. “I didn’t, I swear!”


Carter was fuming. “You using her to make my girl jealous? Or are you using her to piss me off?”


Buy Rebel With A Cause anywhere eBooks are sold.

02/04/2013 - Ashleigh's 2013 Calendar

Hello everyone! How was your Easter? Or if you don't celebrate Easter, how was your weekend? I'm back from my weekend away, but I'm still trying to catch up on all my Uni work I have missed, so it'll take me a couple of days to get back into the regular posting I'd been doing before I left.

So, to start off with, I'm just doing a simple post about what I'm planning on getting up to this year.



Now as you know, I have self-published two books. But what you may not know, is that I totally hate the first one I wrote. So, I have decided to revamp and relaunch The Joke's on YOU!

There will be no awkward scenes (at least I hope not) like version one, because I'm changing the Hamilton storyline a bit. I will also change some of the dialogue, to make it cleaner and nicer to read.

I am also hoping that for this book, I could possibly get a new cover. If anyone out there wants to try, go ahead. I'll be having a new cover for the TJOY relaunch.



I also have work to do for uni, so that comes first. I will also be continuing to write my new book series, but don't count on a book being released this year. It's taking longer than I thought to find time to write it, so it will be released next year sometime.


I will try keep regular updates for the blog, but it's a bog job for one person, so if you would like to or have written something and would like others to read it (or even not, this blog gets hardly any views), please, please, please, send your writings in. PLEASE!!!

Ok, that's all for now! Ciao!

29/03/2013 - Easter Break & Monthly Newsletter

Hello all! I'm very sorry, but in my country, it's Easter Break this weekend, so I'm going away, and I won't be home until the 2nd of April. I'm really sorry, but this unfortunately means that I won't be posting anymore until then. I apologise if you are a regular visitor, so please accept my apology. When I get back, I will try and write as much as possible.

Also, the weekly book review by Geri Craig will not be happening this weekend as scheduled. It will start the week after, on the 7th of April.

I am also thinking of releasing a monthly newsletter. It will only be about a page or two, because it will consist of the top 5 posts per month, as well as one of Geri Craig's book reviews.

If there is something you would like to see in the newsletter or on the blog, let me know. Also, if you have any comments/letters/rants about the blog or news or anything else, please submit a 150 word (no more!) to me via e-mail. I will post three in the newsletter. Also, to receive the newsletter, you will need to email me and let me know. Your email will go into a spreadsheet so you can stop receiving the newsletter any time. I will not spam you with mail - you should only receive a newsletter from me once a month, unless things change.

Comment below your thoughts about a newsletter.

Write soon!
Ashleigh Neame

28/03/2013 - A Cut Scene From 'The First Vampire'

King Manuzi watched with narrowed eyes as his witch wife was led onto the wooden platform. The guard accompanying her had roped her hands behind her back. Manuzi's face showed and expression of distaste, but not for the reasons the kingdom thought. Manuzi knew the kingdom thought he was ashamed of his wife's magic, but the truth was he had given his wife those powers in the first place, and he knew that tying her hands behind her back would make no difference - magic came from the head, not the hands. The hands were only one of the ways magic could be channelled. 

To be honest, magic wasn't even the reason Queen Liluri was to die today. Unbeknownst to the kingdom, Liluri had given birth to twin girls only a few days ago - children that Manuzi knew he could never have. While he was away on palace business, Liluri had been having an affair with Thaddeus, one of Manuzi's best warriors, and most trusted guards.

Manuzi spotted the guard in question standing in the crowd, watching Liluri with intense eyes. Manuzi looked over at Liluri and saw her eyes fill with joy as she met the guard's eyes. Although his expression stay stony, Manuzi was smirking on the inside. Liluri and the guard thought they were the only ones who knew the truth, but they were wrong. Since Liluri became imprisoned, Manuzi had been drinking a special concoction that made him immune to magic for a short period of time. He knew his wife better than either of them cared to admit, and he knew that she would attempt to cast a spell to keep her daughters safe.

"It's such a shame," the man sitting next to Manuzi said. "I thought your wife was from far better stock."

King Typhon, oh how Manuzi wished they weren't brothers. King Typhon was his father's son with his first wife, making him Manuzi's elder half-brother. Typhon and his wife, Queen Echidna, had come over from their cosy palace on the Central Island to 'support Manuzi' through this tough time.

"I thought so too," Echidna agreed.

Manuzi thought how ironic Typhon and Echidna's comments were, when Echidna was holding one of Liluri's spawn in her arms. When Liluri had cast the spell, she made the entire country - all five islands! - think that the girls belonged to different mothers. King Typhon and Queen Echidna had ended up with the younger twin and named her Selene. Everyone thought Echidna had given birth to Selene. Manuzi had no idea where the other twin had ended up.

"Liluri's mother died when she was young," Manuzi lied to his brother. "I suspect for the same reason Liluri must die today."

"Possibly," Typhon said. "But let us not speak ill of the dead. We shall focus on the monumentous task at hand - getting through today."


If you enjoyed this cut scene and would like to read the published short story, simply search for 'The First Vampire' wherever eBooks are sold.

25/03/2013 - My Second Novel: Rebel With A Cause

Hello! Kia ora! Hola! Dia duit!

I'm back with another post! Woohoo! This one is about my second novel, Rebel With A Cause, which I like much more than my first novel (remember how much I hated it?), and am actually semi-proud of.

The official 'Rebel With A Cause' cover, designed by Wattpadder @philophobic_

As promised, here's the links to buy it:

Smashwords: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/265676

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Rebel-Cause-Ashleigh-Neame/dp/1480104647/ref=la_B007DK3NE0_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1364101673&sr=1-2

Kobo: http://www.kobobooks.com/ebook/Rebel-With-A-Cause/book-izx2UBMJWkO-rIus1vyi-Q/page1.html?s=vYH8B-edr0yZVA6QXKc6ew&r=5

Barnes & Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/rebel-with-a-cause-ashleigh-neame/1114045112

Diesel: http://www.diesel-ebooks.com/item/SW00000265676/Neame-Ashleigh-Rebel-With-A-Cause/1.html

iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/rebel-with-a-cause/id588909490?mt=11

Whitcoulls: http://www.whitcoulls.co.nz/product-reviews/rebel-with-a-cause/39764450/

Lulu: http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/AshleighNeame