Revenge Gets A Makeover!

ROCKING HORSES PAINTED RED GETS A MUCH NEEDED FACELIFT!

 

After a year of being an ugly duckling, the cover of RHPR has finally morphed into a beautiful swan.  Check out the new image below...and watch for my upcoming novel, ULTRAVIOLENCE: A LOVE STORY available this week (more about that later!)

 

 

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

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.

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."

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

K-POP, LEE MIN-HO, & ASIAN ALIENS

I've had several people contact me through FaceBook to ask about the origins of my novel's two male characters, Kiel (pronounced Kyle) and Kim.  They were fascinted with my choice of ethnicity for the Caucasian heroine's love interests.  If the blog title didn't say it all, I will - they are both Asian. 

Actually, Kim is Asian, specifically Korean.  And yes, I realize that Kim is a Korean last name, not a first name.  Most American readers wouldn't know the difference, but I do explain his surname reversal  in the chapter "Seoul Kiss."  As for the character of Kiel also being Asian, well...HE IS and HE ISN'T.  Although his appearance may suggest otherwise, he can't be from Asia if he isn't from Earth.

Now, to get back to the original question.  How in the world does an "over-thirty" Caucasian-American writer decide that her teen novel's male protagonists should both be Asian?  Simple - I am the mother of a teen daughter who is part of the growing subculture of American females obsessed with Korean boy bands, better known as K-Pop.  I doubt there is another woman of my age anywhere in the USA who has been subjected to more hours of Korean television than I have.  Not that I'm complaining.  It's a taste that actually isn't all that hard to acquire (whether you use a fork or a pair of chopsticks.) 

I was indoctrinated a few years ago.  It began with a continuous barrage of Supior Junior songs blaring from our living room stereo.  Soon, other groups joined in - 2 PM, Shinee, B2ST, Big Bang, and MBLAQ to name a few.  Eventually, listening to the music wasn't enough, and I was required to watch hours of K-POP music videos.  I have to admit that looking at Super Junior's Choi Siwon isn't exactly torture (more on him later), nor is the opening sequence of MBLAQ's video "Give It To My Y."  So, as a loving parent, I willingly complied.  But our household's teenage females needed an even bigger Korean-boy fix and began indulging in Korean TV shows. I succumbed as well, watching every single episode of "Boys Before Flowers," "You're Beautiful," "Personal Preference," "Coffee Prince," "Naughty Kiss" and "My Girlfriend is a Gummiho." 

Asian overload, you might ask?  At times, yes.  Still, when I began writing my YA romantic fantasy, ZIA, I knew it would include Asian-American characters.  As I saw more and more of my daughter's now college-aged friends fall prey to K-Pop's undeniably handsome young men (they call it that "Asian Persuasion"), I knew it was time for an American teen novel to feature male love interests who were not your typical Caucasian fare.  Hence, Kiel and Kim were created.  And it is there, that I will finally answer the original question put to me on Facebook.  Were either of them based on real people?

The answer is no, not based on, but rather inspired by.  And I will tell you who they are - the basis for Kiel and Kim's physical descriptions. Kiel is a combination of actor Lee Min-Ho and singer Lee Joon (remember that opening scene in MBLAQ's video?); and Kim is a combination of actor/singer Kim Hyen Joong and singer/actor Choi Siwon ( I told you I'd mention him again.)

So, if you decide to read ZIA and need a visual image for either character, now you have it.  And if you don't know any of these Korean superstars, start Googling.  Like my daughter, you'll be glad you did!