Thoughts on the wild, the weird, and the romantic from author Joy Nash

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Joy Nash is a USA Today Bestselling Author and RITA Award Finalist applauded by Booklist for her "tart wit, superbly crafted characters, and sexy, magic-steeped plots."

» Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Real life vampire??

I'm always on the lookout for real-life news of the paranormal. I also devour odd historical tidbits. A couple weeks ago, I came across a news story that fed both my addictions.


Recently, the remains of a medieval "vampire" were found near Venice, Italy. When a team led by Matteo Borrini, a forensic anthropologist from Florence University, dug up a woman who had been buried with a brick slammed into her mouth, they knew they had come across a real-life vampire.


Apparently, in the Middle Ages, it was thought that burying a suspected vampire with a brick in its mouth would prevent the corpse from rising again to feed. This was especially true for female vampires (who knows why?).


The vampire starvation method was often employed during outbreaks of plague. Superstitious medieval folk thought that the trickle of blood that came out of a dying plague victim's mouth was an indication that the dead person would rise again. It was the gravedigger's job to identify potential vampires and make sure they couldn't rise to turn others into the monsters that they had become.


The female vampire dug up by Borroni's team died in the Venetian plague of 1576, an epidemic that also took the life of the artist Titian. The brick that was found still in her mouth had been hammered in with such force that it broke her teeth. And I guess the anti-vampire charm worked, because it took more than 430 years for this particular vampiress to rise from her grave!


All my grisly best O.o ,


Joy
www.joynash.com



Coming May 26!

A Little Light Magic

Summer at the Jersey Shore has never been so hot!







In Bookstores NOW:

Immortals: The Reckoning

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» Sunday, March 15, 2009

Coolest Library Ever!

Because I'm an architect in real life, I recently got a forwarded-to-zillions email with pictures of the 15 wackiest buildings. Thought I'd share one of them here. This is the Kansas City Missouri Public Library.




Coolest Library EVER! If I'm ever in Kansas City, I'm definitely stopping by.


Joy

Happy reading!

Joy



In Bookstores NOW:
Immortals: The Reckoning

by
Jennifer Ashley
Joy Nash
Robin T. Popp

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» Monday, March 09, 2009

Barbara Vey's 2nd Anniversary Party this week!!!

The lovely and charming Barbara Vey, author of Publisher's Weekly "Beyond Her Book" blog, is hosting a week long cyberparty, filled with fun and prizes!

Here's the week's schedule:


Monday, March 9th: Paranormal/Sci-Fi/Fantasy/Horror

Tuesday, March 10th: Thriller/Suspense/Mystery

Wednesday, March 11th: Publishers/agents/publicist/editors/bloggers

Thursday, March 12th: Inspirational/YA/Graphic Novels/Nonfiction

Friday, March 13th: Contemporary/Historical/Erotica/E-books/Audio

Saturday, March 14th: Romance Blow Out


I'll be on hand with my paranormal pen in one hand and my historical pen in the other!

Hope to see you at Barbara Vey’s Beyond Her Book Blog!

Joy

Happy reading!

Joy



In Bookstores NOW:
Immortals: The Reckoning

by
Jennifer Ashley
Joy Nash
Robin T. Popp

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