Mama

I've been waiting for this movie to release ever since I saw the trailer, and finally Mama is in theaters. We went to see it Saturday night.

My official verdict - it was creepy and fairly well done, especially considering most horror movies disappoint me. This one had a decent plot and plenty of creepy scenes. The ending was only okay, as a lot of them are, and left you with that feeling that as soon as the cops show up, everyone who is still alive is going straight to jail or the loony bin because no one is going to believe them. But that's a standard with most horror movies, so I overlook my mentally manufactured Epilogue in favor of the crux of the movie.

If you're a horror movie buff, and you love a creepy ghost story, then you will probably like this movie.

Here's the trailer:


Enjoy! Deadly DeLeon

Interview with YA Author Juli Alexander

Amanda is drowning in Deadline Hell as she prepares for the release of her new book Pas De Death, so her friend, the fabulous Juli Alexander is here today with a Q&A about her new YA spy novel, Investigating the Hottie.

Take it away, Juli!
______________________________________________

Amanda: I loved, loved, loved Investigating the Hottie. How did you come up with the idea?

Juli: Thanks, Amanda.  Hottie was my first YA, and my first completed manuscript of any kind. I dreamed up the idea after seeing the Princess Diaries.  I’m a huge Meg Cabot fan, and I started thinking what if the main character found out she was a spy, instead of a princess?  What if her aunt were her family connection to the world of espionage?

Amanda: Awesome. Next time you're here in DC, we'll need to take a research trip to the Spy Museum. Fellow Killer Robin Kaye lives in the area, and rumor has it another one of our lovely Killers might be moving here as well! It'll be awesome. Field trip followed by drinks at the martini bar next door. Whaddya say?

Anyway, I digress. You were a Golden Heart finalist with this book, but it was the 5th of the five novels you indie-published this past year. Why did you wait on this one and decide to start off with the other books (which I also loved, but this one was my favorite)?

Juli: Hottie faced challenges when we shopped it in NYC because every line had a spy book.  I wanted to be sure that I was ready to launch and market Hottie.  I published the others, and then decided to evaluate Hottie.  I thought the manuscript would need more updates, but after some technology changes (Palm Pilot to iPad), I published it.  Turns out, readers are ready for a quirky spy book. 

Amanda: You got that right. :) You invented a super secret spy government organization, GASI. How did you do the research for this?

Juli: My research on super secret spy organizations was exhaustive.  I decided to make the acronym sound like a synonym for flatulence, and the agency solidified in my mind from there.  Amanda’s aunt, an agent, has signed her up, and her parents don’t know. 

I plotted this book like a movie made for a tween/teen cable channel and went for a fun ride from start to finish. It didn’t hurt that my son was ten and that I had fully acclimated to ten-year-old boy humor.  I’m now adapting to teenage boy humor, but it isn’t as charming.

Amanda: You do a great job of "keeping it real" -- your books really do ring true to teen girls. How do you reach this perfect balance?

Juli: Sometimes I think I’m one of those lucky women who never matured beyond that awkward fourteen year old. 

Amanda: Ha! Me, too. Probably why we get along so well.

Juli: Each of my characters has at least a piece of my own backstory, like Amanda Peterson being accused of leading during her first couple’s dance. 

I also conduct extensive research on a daily basis, watching every teen movie, reading every YA book, and finding “professional excuses” to immerse myself in teen culture.  I have to watch The Vampire Diaries, people; it’s part of my job! 

Amanda: I freaking love that show. My favorite episodes are when they show the flashbacks to when the vmapires lived in different eras. I love seeing the fashion, especially Katherine Pierce's Civil War corsets and hoop skirts.

Juli: It doesn’t hurt that my 17-year-old son has a crew of twenty or so high school boys and girls who, it seems, no longer need to knock on our front door. 

Amanda: Yeah, my 3-year-old and 1-year-old aren't any help in the YA department, unfortunately. Do you have any plans for other mysteries in the future?

Juli: The Hottie series is about to take priority.  I have a contract with my readers for one more book in the Stirring Up Trouble series.  Then I am going to focus on Amanda and Will and the adventures ahead of them.  Undercover with the Hottie, book two, will involve Amanda and Will investigating a threat at the United Nations.  Despite their budding romance, they’ll have to convince the other teens that they are brother and sister.  I plan to release this sequel in May or June of 2013. 

Something you guys at Killer Fiction must have already figured out—mysteries are amazingly fun to write.  My love for mysteries started early and involves every facet of my life.  Ever since reading, Harriet the Spy, I’ve wanted a dumbwaiter.  How cool would that be? And if I could be a cartoon character, I’d be Kim Possible.  I’m excited to spend as much time in the teen mystery genre as I can manage.

Amanda: Most of our readers here at Killer Fiction are adults who prefer adult mysteries and romances, but who have daughters/nieces/granddaughters. Can you recommend some other teen mysteries to add to their shopping lists? 

Juli: For all teens, I recommend Meg Cabot’s 1-800-Where-R-You Series and Amanda Brice’s Dani Spevak Mystery Series.  These are fun, compelling, and devoid of parent-angering issues.

Amanda: Okay, thank you, but that totally wasn't intended as a fishing expedition for you to compliment me. Really! Although I'm never going to complain anytime my books are mention in the same sentence as Meg Cabot's. ;)

Juli: I also love Carl Hiaasan, Anthony Horowitz, and Rick Riordan books. 

Amanda: Love Anthony Horowitz! Right on.

Juli: For teens 15 and up, I recommend Stephanie Hale’s Revenge of the Homecoming Queen and S.R. Johannes’s Untraceable.  I adore the Heather Wells mysteries by Meg Cabot, starting with Size 12 is Not Fat, even though it isn’t technically a teen book. 

I’m dying to read Ally Carter’s Gallagher Girl Series and also Shannon Greenland’s The Specialist series. I haven’t allowed myself to read them because they have the potential to be quite similar to my Hottie books.  Once I finish my series, I’ll be excited to read them. 

Amanda: I'm totally the same way. Despite it appearing in my also-boughts (and me in hers), I haven't gone anywhere near Jennifer Lynn Barnes' The Squad series, featuring undercover cheerleaders. Hers is a spy series whereas mine's more of a cozy mystery, but it just seems too similar to my dance series. Probably because I both danced and cheered growing up. :) But as soon as I say my final goodbye to Dani (probably sometime in 2014 or 2015, depending on whether the fans still want more books), you better believe I'll be catching up!

Anyway, thanks so much for joining us today, Juli.

Here's the blurb for Investigating the Hottie, which has been hands-down my favorite read so far in 2013. (Yes, I know it's early, but seriously -- it's really good! Funny, exciting, romantic...the real deal.)

Peterson. Amanda Peterson. When my life suddenly turns into the Princess Diaries meets Mission Impossible, can I do in a week what I haven’t managed to do in all my fifteen years—reel in a hottie?
When Amanda spends a week with her aunt, Christie, she learns that her aunt is a spy. Christie admits that Amanda has security clearance and has already started her training. When her aunt asks her to investigate a teenage hacker, Amanda thinks that spending time with a nerd should be doable despite her social ineptitude. Unfortunately for Amanda, the hacker is a hottie.

You Don't Have To Be Gay To Hide In The Closet

Question: What do the former New Jersey governor (Jim McGreevey), the former president of the National Association of Evangelicals (Ted Haggard) and former Alabama Attorney General, Troy King have in common?

Answer: They all lived a lie, and that lie eventually destroyed them. All three of these men were very successful in their careers and they all preached, in their own way, "traditional family values." They were all married, extolled the values of a heterosexual family life and tried to live their life the way those around them expected and wanted them to. But they were all gay. One by one their secrets came out. They all cheated on their wives and got themselves involved in risky, salacious situations that they really should have had the sense to sidestep. You can't exactly excuse their behavior. They lied to everyone. The people they represented, their friends, their families and most importantly themselves.

That last part is really the important piece. There is no bigger lie than to lie about who you are as a person. But usually people who do that are also trying very hard to delude themselves. These guys had all been told from a very early age that being gay was a horrible thing. So they tried to be someone different, with different desires and different needs. And it worked for them for a while. But when you deny who you are (to yourself and to the world) sooner or later something breaks. Suppress your true nature for too long and it usually comes out in a rather destructive and chaotic way.  And when those who go down this path finally give in to an irresistible temptation they don't come clean right away because doing so would involve acknowledging who they are, not just to their loved ones but to themselves. For these guys that was unthinkable. For many of them, acknowledging their desires was as good as acknowledging that they were literally going to hell. So they convinced themselves that their infidelity was just a one-off...then a two-off...and eventually they just saw it as a hidden drug addiction that at some point they'd find a way to kick. Apparently these dudes didn't see Brokeback Mountain. It just doesn't work that way. To quote Jim McGreevey:

"It destroyed my career, ruined my marriage and helped me discover who I really am."

This particular story has been retold so many times with different actors the public barely registers shock anymore. But a while ago I started wondering...why do we assume this story only holds true for closeted gays? Aren't there other ways of being closeted? Aren't there many completely heterosexual individuals suppressing their true nature only to have it break through at the most inconvenient moment? There are so many ways children are frequently indoctrinated by philosophies that requires them to learn and embrace the art of self-deciet.

And it was while thinking about all that that I invented Kasie Fitzgerald, the protagonist who stars in Just One Night: The Stranger, the first book of a novella trilogy that will be released on Monday. Kasie was raised to believe that she needs to be a certain way: reserved, cautious, conservative in every area of life and most importantly, controlled. Due to some experiences from her childhood this has become more than a life philosophy, it's practically a religion for her and yes, she does believe that if she rejects these dictates she will in many ways be put on a direct path to hell.

In fairness, following the rules that have been set for her has served her very well in many ways. She's a graduate of Harvard Business School, she's doing very well at a global business consulting firm, she's engaged to a man who may not excite her but fits into the picture she's been told she's supposed to live in.

And then she meets Robert Dade. A fiercely, almost pathologically independent man who embraces risk and lives by his own rules without apology or excuse. He has salt-and-pepper hair and the muscular form of a much younger man, his clothes speak of wealth and his calloused hands speak of harder labor. He intrigues her... and he wants her. Temptation knocks on the door and suddenly her true nature, the woman who wants adventure, who craves spontaneity, who doesn't want to live by rules aimed to stifle rather than inspire...that woman comes roaring out...for a night.

The problem is that Robert wants a hell of a lot more than one night and now Kasie has to wage a battle within herself. She wants to be the woman her family, her fiancé and almost everyone else around her wants her to be.  But Robert wants her to be the woman she actually is, a woman she's been taught not to acknowledge at any cost.

This is an erotic romance, there's lots of sex and sexual tension...but in the end it's a story of self-discovery. Kasie's story. It's her battle, her conflict and she makes a lot of bad, even destructive decisions as she tries to work it all out. People will be hurt. Her current fiancé has ties to her work so her career is at risk, her relationship, her family's approval and most importantly her identity...it may be a false identity but it's a forgery that she has carefully crafted and cherished throughout her life. She has to decide if it's worth risking all of that in order to pursue a path that she thought was forbidden.

I'm guessing that a lot of you here simply don't read erotic fiction and to be honest, I rarely do either. Typically it's just not a genre that speaks to me...which is why I added an atypical entry into it. For $1.99 I hope you'll give it a shot. It might surprise you...it certainly surprised me how much I enjoyed writing it

Kyra "Fashionista Fatale" Davis

Leslie Langtry is on Vacation!

I have to apologize - I'm on my first, long, family vacation in 5 years!  When we left Illinois, it was 4 degrees, with an inch or two of snow on the ground.  When we arrived in Orlando, it was 80 degrees. 

So now, I'm screaming on roller coasters, flirting with cartoon mice, drinking rum and beer and eating like a horse, and having a great time with my family. 

I promise to come back.

I think...

The Assassin

Antique Cups...Expensive, Christmas Eve Tea Party Memories...Priceless

It was two days before Christmas, I was running around like a chicken with its head cut off and a lit stick of dynamite up its back-end.  You know, doing all that pre-cooking and last minute wrapping.  Then, the phone rang. 

“Mawmaw.” That sweet little three-year-old voice filled my ear and the holiday stress faded like magic.   

Now, my granddaughter is extremely verbally talented.  There’s nothing she can’t say or talk about.  I mean, a couple of weeks ago, Hubby and I were over in my daughter’s neck of the woods and were taking our granddaughter to a park. We were about five miles from their house when she piped up from the backseat and said, “Mawmaw, you see that white building?  That’s where Mama and me went and voted for president.”  Yes, she’s three years old and this kid is blessed with language skills and intelligence.  I mean, she already knows where she has to go vote.

About the only time I can’t understand everything she says is when she’s really excited.  And on that pre-Christmas phone call, she was very excited.  I heard, “Mawmaw, Mama said I couldn’t, but . . . blah blah blah,” and, “tea party blah blah blah,” followed by . . . “Okay?  Is that okay?”

Wanting to make her happy, (Hey, I’m Mawmaw and that’s what we do) I said, “Okay.”  And I wasn’t worried at all until I heard the little darling voice say, “See, Mama, I told you Mawmaw would say yes.”

My daughter gets on the line and says, “Mama, you didn’t have to agree to that.”

I stammered just a second.  “Wh . . . what did I agree to?”

My daughter starts laughing and then she tells me the story.  My granddaughter had decided they needed to have a tea party.  So she went and found her little play tea set.  But she found it swept under her bed, so it had something in it. And not just anything in it. We’re talking Texas mold growing inside tiny plastic tea cups.  She was so upset when my daughter told her she couldn’t drink out of them anymore.  She was still pouting, but then my daughter said my granddaughter’s eyes lit up and she said, “I know, when I go to Mawmaws, we can have a real tea party with real tea cups.  Not play tea cups, not regular tea cups, but real fancy ones.”

You see, years ago I collected antique tea cups.  So around the house, I have about a half a dozen of some of my nicer cups set out on shelves and such.  My granddaughter had never really had an interest in them . . .  until now.  The next day, Christmas Eve, my daughter, her hubby and my granddaughter showed up, wrapped presents in hand.  We were still setting the gifts under the tree when my granddaughter comes running up with about four antique cups and saucers stacked in her arms. “We’re going to have a real tea party,” she squeals with the biggest, sweetest smile on her face.

My daughter’s face grows pale seeing her three-year-old so haphazardly carrying my hundred-year-old tea cups as if they were building blocks.  I know my daughter is remembering when she was a teen and broke my favorite cup.  She had felt terrible and even went out and bought me a replacement.   But I have to tell you, seeing my granddaughter all lit up with joy over us having a “Real” tea party was simply priceless. 

I told my daughter to relax, if a cup or two got broken, it would be okay, because the memory would be worth it.  So I just helped my granddaughter bring them into the kitchen and we made tea and sat around the table, pointing out our pinky fingers, eating cookies that we called scones, and we had ourselves one fine Christmas Eve tea party.

You know, I’ve had some of those antique cups for over 20 years, but I don’t think I’ve ever enjoyed them more than right then.  Happy New Year again, guys.  Even if you break a cup or two, I hope you all take the time to sit down with a three-year-old, point your pinky fingers out, share some tea, laughter, and make some memories.

WHAT DOES YOUR DRINK SAY ABOUT YOU? by Diane Kelly

Are we what we drink?

James Bond is known for his “shaken, not stirred” martinis. Though I doubt the manner in which the ingredients were mixed made any difference in the taste, the concept of “shaking” evokes much more exciting and dangerous implications than the much more tame “stirring.” No doubt this particular drink was an element of the spy’s character to which the writer devoted quite a bit of thought.

The ladies of Sex and the City made the Cosmopolitan an everyday term.  The pinkish color of the cosmo is feminine, while the fact that it is served in a martini glass gives it a classy, big-city allure.  

JD, a quirky doctor in the TV show Scrubs, always ordered an appletini. Though heterosexual, he was definitely in touch with his feminine side.

Those of us who indulge in alcoholic drinks tend to have a repertoire of favorites.

I tend toward the girlie frou-frou drinks like piña coladas, strawberry daiquiris, and margaritas. To me, drinks are sort of like a grown-up dessert, and I drink them for fun with friends. I’ve never had a stomach for the hard stuff and, as I’ve learned the hard way, tequila and I don’t get along too well.  On occasions when I’m feeling more sophisticated or when I’m in a more upscale restaurant or bar, I’ll order an amaretto on the rocks. The drink is still sweet and smooth, but has a more mature feel to it.

In my January 29th release, Death, Taxes, and Peach Sangria, IRS Special Agent Tara Holloway mixes quite a few pitchers of peach sangria, using a recipe obtained from the mother of her sexy co-worker, Senior Special Agent Nick Pratt.

What types of drinks do you like? Does your choice of drink reflect your personality? Do you drink different types of drinks depending on your mood or the atmosphere of the venue?

Ooops!

OMG! I just realized I forgot to blog Thursday. Why? Let me count the reasons:

One: Meno-fog (I'll be blogging about this condition in the weeks to come.)

Two:  The holidays got my schedule all screwed up.

Three: It's tax time and my head hurts.

Four:  I started rewatching the previous seasons of Downton Abbey in preparation for Season 3's debut.

Five: See reason one.

To atone, I'm sending you cyber Valentine's Day cookies. Trust me. They're delicious.

And I'll try really, really hard not to forget to blog again.

~Bullet Hole~