FREE AUTOGRAPHED BOOK GIVEAWAY

Thanks to everyone who participated in my last Goodreads book giveaway - we ended up with almost 700 requests.  If you're interested in winning NOT 1, BUT 2 free autographed novels follow the link below or go to Goodreads' Book Giveaway page - but hurry, entries end on December 15th!

http://www.goodreads.com/giveaway/show/37043-inamorata-s-passagehttp://www.goodreads.com/giveaway/show/37043-inamorata-s-passage

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Goodreads Book Giveaway

Rocking Horses Painted Red

by Terry Lovett

Released July 06 2012

Giveaway ends in 15 days (October 31, 2012)
5 copies available, 248 people requesting
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GOODREADS BOOK GIVEAWAY BEGINS OCTOBER 1st!

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Rocking Horses Painted Red

by Terry Lovett

Released July 06 2012

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http://www.goodreads.com/giveaway/show/33883-rocking-horses-painted-red

WRITING IN REVERSE or FROM SCREENPLAY TO NOVEL

A few months ago, I had a movie producer (who'd read ROCKING HORSES PAINTED RED and liked my occasionally humorous/often macabre writing style) contact me to see if I'd be interested in turning several of his screenplays into novels.  He explained that movies actually do better when there is a novel tied to it.  Who knew.  Anyway, after careful consideration (about 2 seconds) I said YES!

The first screenplay arrived a few weeks later and I began reading.  It had been a long time since I'd seen one of these, and I'd forgotten just how bare bones they can be.  Screenplays are very cut and dry when it comes to describing the feelings/motivation that accompany its action and dialogue. Since the director will use his actors to visually create the world in which these characters-on-paper inhabit, there is very little emotion (or backstory) in the screenplay itself.

Although shooting for this picture will begin in October (& will be filmed as per the original screenplay,) I was still given the liberty to tweek the characters/dialogue as I saw fit.  So, two weeks ago, I settled in and went to work - literally taking a skeleton and adding the muscle, tissue, and organs to cover its naked carcass.  And although I had originally felt some reluctance about simply expanding on a storyline not of my own creation,  I found that I enjoyed playing Dr. Frankenstien.  By the time I finished Chapter 4, I was beginning to feel that these were my characters - albeit in a surrogate sort of way.

So far, this writing-in-reverse has been a  pretty fun trip.  I've enjoyed getting to play mad scientist, taking someone else's handiwork and morphing it into the monster I wish it to be.

GENE KELLY'S 100th BIRTHDAY

      Yesterday would have been Gene Kelly's 100th birthday and I, like so many of his fans, spent the entire day watching his wonderful films on TCM. (Not that I don't own them all on DVD & before that on VHS.)
       I enjoyed listening to his widow talk with Robert Osborne about her memories of Gene, although I was quite shocked to see that she almost 50 years younger than Mr. Kelly. Regardless, she was a treasure trove of wonderful memories and delightful trivia (which I guess only makes sense, since she met Gene while interviewing him for a biography back in the late 1980's.)
       And speaking of the 80's, that was the only time I ever got to see my matinee idol on the big screen (in Xanadu)...until last month. What a thrill to finally watch "Singing In The Rain" in a movie theatre!
        My life-long love affair with the star even led me to include four pages about him in my YA novel, ZIA. You're probably wondering how I could do that with a futuristic fantasy, but if you flip to Chapter 8, you'll find out.
        Gene Kelly - what a perfomer! Whenever he smiled onscreen, I smiled!

 

ZIA Book Trailer

The book trailers for both ZIA and INAMORATA'S PASSAGE are on youtube now, and I couldn't be more excited.  The gal who created both of them did a fantastic job! She is also the one responsible for the covers to my books -  mucho thanks!!!!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=14MNtmVYGRU&feature=plcp
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oFM3TaTkGFc&feature=player_detailpage

BOOK TRAILER ON YOUTUBE

Please check out the trailer for ROCKING HORSES PAINTED RED at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r5yW6ICBuHw&feature=plcp

IS FICTION COMPLETELY FICTION?

Sometimes people ask me if the characters in my novels are derived from real people.  The answer: My characters are never based on anyone, but always someone.

NAUGHTY GIRLS & NAUGHTY BOYS...

ROCKING HORSES PAINTED RED

Naughty girls and naughty boys

Come and buy my little toys,

Nooses made of gingerbread

And rocking horses painted red;

Pins and needles, vixen vexed

Wicked boys, did kill them next,

While wicked girls bled on the bed

Near rocking horses painted red;

Blue flame, white flame, crimson sky

Evil children all must die,

So marshmallow monkeys with kangaroo thread

Stitch rocking horses painted red;

And the looking glass stares back at me

Placed deep and cold ‘neath silk spun trees

While twelve blind mice plus two rats dead

Ride rocking horses painted red!

-          Nursery rhyme for the innocent of heart

New Fiction Novel Deals With Justice, Revenge, & Casey Anthony

      With two very different books (aimed at very different age groups) coming out in the same week, I'm sure my blogs seem to be bordering on the bi-polar. Even so, I've decided to jump on the softcover see-saw tonight and tell you about my supplementary narrative anyway.
      My second novel is titled ROCKING HORSES PAINTED RED and is a story about revenge told in a macabre/dark comedy sort of way (there goes my bi-polarality again.)
      And although RHPR has absolutely NOTHING to do with Casey Anthony, it was her acquittal (just a year ago this week) that set the wheels in motion for my tale of righteous indignation.
      I was as dumbfounded as the rest of my fellow Floridians when last July 5th's verdict was read, but instead of feeling hopelessly malcontent, I decided to compose a bit of fantasy justice.
      And I do mean "fantasy" - nothing more!!!!!
      So....I threw on the "Where's Caylee" T-shirt I'd been given by Grandpa George at a Sunday Meet 'N Greet and locked myself away in the attic with my typewriter. Ok, it was in my study using the computer's keyboard, but I was still riled.
      What developed was ROCKING HORSES PAINTED RED, a sinister little story about a young woman who, over the course of two decades, takes revenge on not only the jury, but also the criminal defense attorney who allowed her sister's killer to walk free. And as the jacket blurb affirms, "Revenge can come wrapped in a variety of packages."
      Now, as I said, I'd never advocate retaliating against a perceived miscarriage of justice in any way, BUT...if a tirade against a certain defense attorney and his client will make you feel better, then flip to Chapter 9 for a brief rant that begins....
     "Breaking News - Casey Anthony Acquitted! The ugly black words kept crawling across the bottom of the pub's TV screen like bristling tarantulas scrambling across the highway before a thunderstorm. Never before had some monkey from the Attorney Zoo thrown so much shit against the wall and had it all stick."

SEQUEL TO ZIA

       Now that INAMORATA'S PASSAGE has been released, I thought I would answer a few questions people have had concerning the ZIA trilogy.  Most of you want to know if both Kim and Kiel return in the sequel, and the answer is yes (although Kim's presence is greatly diminished due to the new setting - Kiel's world.)  But if you are Team Kim, don't worry, he'll be back with a vengeance in the final book - even though the relationship between Zia and Kiel ignites with a fevered intimacy in this new sequel.
     
       "Zia closed her eyes, and let her head drop back onto Kiel’s shoulder.  Her fingers guided his
pleasured hands, their movements synchronized with the pounding rain.      
        She reached behind her back, clutching each side of his hips and pulling his body to hers. Slowly, Zia moved one hand to the front of his waistband, allowing it to slide gently downward, the distant thunder applauding her gesture."

        The second question I always get is why I chose to make the two male protagonists in my novel Asian.  And to that, I say "Why not? "  With the ever growing popularity of K-Pop/K-Dramas in America, I felt it was time for western females to finally have a romantic fantasy featuring the types of young men they...well...fantasize about.  And that is South Koreans.
        I had a reader want to know if I based my characters' appearances on any particular Korean stars, and I told her yes.  Then I had another young lady ask me to be even more specific, so here goes.  If you are reading ZIA or IP and need a visual for Kim or Kiel (pronounced Kyle) check out these photo mash-ups, and I think you'll have a very good idea - plus some pretty sweet, candy-coated dreams!

KIEL

Lee Min Ho (Boys over Flowers, City Hunter)

T.O.P (Big Bang)

KIM

Choi Siwon (Super Junior)

Kim Hyun Joong (Boys over Flowers, Naughty Kiss)

       

ROCKING HORSES PAINTED RED

ROCKING HORSES PAINTED RED

Naughty girls and naughty boys

Come and buy my little toys,

Nooses made of gingerbread

And rocking horses painted red;

Pins and needles, vixen vexed

Wicked boys, did kill them next,

While wicked girls bled on the bed

Near rocking horses painted red;

Blue flame, white flame, crimson sky

Evil children all must die,

So marshmallow monkeys with kangaroo thread

Stitch rocking horses painted red;

And the looking glass stares back at me

Placed deep and cold ‘neath silk spun trees

While twelve blind mice plus two rats dead

Ride rocking horses painted red!

-          Nursery rhyme for the innocent of heart

I Told You I'd Come Back...

     ...And here I am.  Sadly, it never occurred to me that what I thought would be a short hiatus would turn into almost a year!  But in that time, I did author two books, the first one being the sequel to ZIA.  INAMORATA'S PASSAGE became available this week in both paperback and on Kindle/Nook.
     If you read and enjoyed the first book in the series, I hope you'll check out this one as well.  It has the same dash of fantasy and magical realism as the original plus a love triangle big enough to span two worlds.
     And this time, the title character in ZIA discovers that love is more than kissing.  A whole lot more!
      The second novel, an adult thriller titled ROCKING HORSES PAINTED RED, is a sinister little story about regret and revenge.  And in the next few days, I promise to post more about each.  
     But until then...