West of Mars

It all began the day Mitchell bought the pedals for his guitar.

“You plug it in, right?” he asked Trevor, who looked up from an inspection of the match he’d just used to light a joint.

Trevor shrugged.

Mitchell stuck the plug into the hole on his guitar. The power cord went into
the outlet. “That’s all, right?”

Trevor shrugged.

Mitchell tried a note. Nothing. He stepped on the pedals. Nothing.

“What the fuck?”

Trevor took a drag off the joint and gave Mitchell one of those raised-eyebrow looks that meant he was echoing the question. “Ask Gus,” the bass player said once he’d exhaled. “He sold you the fucking thing. He shoulda showed you how to make it work.”

Mitchell pulled his head into his shoulders. “I told him I’d read the manual if I needed help.”

“So why don’t you?”

“Gus kept it. He told me to figure it out on my own.”

Trevor nodded slowly. It reminded Mitchell of those wise men in those bad movies Trevor always liked to watch. “So go figure and leave me the fuck alone already.”

Mitchell shook his head and turned back to the new pedal. Gus was right. The best way to master something like this was to fart around with it until you understood it.

Still… it had to have a power switch or something.

Didn’t it?

Ahh, my boys. If you’re new to Trevor and Mitchell, click on their names to learn more about them and to maybe even read a few other outtakes they star in. You know you want to.

If you’re not new to Trevor and Mitchell, why not poke around some anyway? Refresh your memory, find something new. There’s plenty in my archives, you know.

I love this week’s Sunday Scribblings prompt. It’s ripe with possibility.

Vision

Do I write about how Scott from Deadly Metal Hatchet wears glasses? Things Chelle observes in her role as a rock and roll reporter for the fictional Trumpet newspaper? What about Roadie Poet? What’s in his vision these days besides a friend named Hambone and a girlfriend he calls More?

I could just post the outtake I have ready to go on Sunday night (so if you’re reading this after Sunday, be sure to check it out). It’s all about a vision Mitchell has. Or I could point you to an archived outtake, like this one. (For anyone familiar with my archives, it’s the Flags outtake.)

But when you get right down to it, this blog and everything on it best represents my vision. My vision of my fictional world, my vision of what it’s like to share it with readers, my vision of what it means to be a writer in 2008. Yes, I’m dying to bring you Trevor’s Song, the novel. No, I can’t even begin to tell you how much richer your reading experience will be because you hang out here with me. Or even stop in and visit from time to time, as many of you do.

I can tell you how much richer my own writing and my own vision for my fiction has become. Because I’ve got this place and because I’ve got readers, I’m constantly pushing myself to dig deeper into this fictional city of Riverview, USA. Not to mention the things I push myself to discover about these characters you read about here. Yes, even the ones you don’t seem to love nearly as much as you love Trevor and Mitchell.

One thing really strikes me in all this: when I began to envision my fake band ShapeShifter (the fake band bit is a reference to my Thursday Thirteen this week and ooh, it hurts to think of these guys as fake. Fictional, sure. Fake? Not so much.), it was Mitchell and Kerri I created first. Trevor has become the proverbial secondary character who insisted on … well, not just his own book, but really running the show.

Yet look at this. Who do you guys relate to the most? Who are your favorites? Trevor, Mitchell, and Roadie Poet (with Chelle running a close second and probably Lyric right there with her, if you knew her better).

They are all men.

I wish I could tell you about the rejection letters I’ve gotten from literary agents who ask me who’d want to read a book about a man. That’s the reason some of them cite for why they don’t want to work with me. They tell me that men don’t read as many books as women, and that Trevor’s Song can’t possibly appeal to women.

Yet Trevor has become the man you can’t help but love. You want more of him and frankly, I don’t blame you. Trevor breaks the rules, and he does so in a manner that irritates a lot of people because he flaunts those rules he’s busy breaking. He blows marijuana smoke in the faces of the school principals while Mitchell hides in a bathroom stall, afraid of what’ll happen once he’s caught and has to face his father. He’s the bad boy with a soft side that everyone but him acknowledges.

I am eager to share my vision with you. I’ve often been vocal about the idea to collect the outtakes I’ve written and self-publish a little volume of them, for no reason other than to let you have some Trevor and Mitchell to hold into your hands. I’m holding off on that for now for reasons I don’t want to get into, but know that it’s something that I just may have to pull a Trevor and do for you. Flaunt the rules, do things my way, on my own terms…

Yeah, that’s part of my vision for myself and for you, my readers. There’s plenty more, of course, so stay tuned for it.

I’d been all celebratory when I decided to write up this post. After eight days away on business, the Tour Manager was headed home. Then he called to say he’d been held hostage on the plane AT THE GATE for an hour.

Poof! There went my shiny mood.

Anyway, so many of you responded that I should start my own website for fake bands that I’m going to. Sort of. It’s going to be a page on my main site that’ll feature books about rock and roll. I’ve got about sixty (maybe more) listed already. If you have suggestions, leave ‘em in the comments or drop me an e-mail.

Huge thanks once again to Winter for doing not only my awesome ShapeShifter logo but for doing a bit of investigating on that front.

Anyway. Back to the books. This was a big week for news of releases to cross my path. Ready for what I’ve found?

Beth Williamson: Hell for Leather

Joely Sue Burkhart: Beautiful Death

Gena Showalter: The Darkest Pleasure

Lauren Dane: Making Chase (now in print!)

Melanie Atkins: Voodoo Bones

Vivian Zabel: Midnight Hours

Phyllis Campbell: Danger in Her Arms (now in print!)

and last but perhaps most longingly by me (because I’m missing her release party!)
Kathryn Miller Haynes: The Winter of her Discontent

Busy week, huh? Congratulations to all my author buds on their new releases. May your sales be huge and your advance earned out soon. And may the Tour Manager actually get off that plane and be back West of Mars.

I can’t even begin to thank my friend Winter enough. She volunteered to take my rough idea of the ShapeShifter logo and was able to turn it into something amazing and incredible. Please stop by Winter’s place and rave about what she’s done for me. And if you have ideas of a special pressie as a way of saying thanks, I’m all ears.

One question before I spend the day staring in rapture at it (again): Do you think it’ll help my chances of being listed here? I mean, is that site tailor-made for me, or WHAT? You know I aspire to be there.

I found this new prompt site, Velvet Verbosity, which challenges you to be inspired by a one-word prompt, but to make your inspiration fit into 100 words. No more, no less. This week’s word: Protection.

Yeah. I thought the same thing.

“It’s time,” ShapeShifter’s manager said. “You need to protect yourselves.”

“Sounds like it’s the girls who need to be protected from us.”

“Either way. You’re at the point in your career where you need to be careful. Paternity suits might be only nine months away.”

No one smiled. Trevor didn’t smirk. It wasn’t funny. This was about contracts and rules and following them, three things Trevor particularly hated. This was about growing up, which was one of those things Trevor had vowed to never do.

“If we have to, we have to,” Mitchell said. He wasn’t happy about it, either.

To learn more about ShapeShifter, Trevor, and Mitchell, follow these links. You’ll be taken to their bio pages, and from there, you can read more of their fictional hijinks.

As promised in my most recent Book Talk post (missed it? You should fix that), I have a spare copy of Toni McGee Causey‘s debut novel, Bobbie Faye’s Very (very very very) Bad Day. Autographed.

You want to read this. You need to read this. You’ll never have a bad day again once you read this because compared to a Bobbie Faye day, you’re small potatoes.

I promise.

Leave me a comment between now and next Sunday, June 22, and I’ll pick a winner. All the usual rules apply: anyone on the planet, previous winners okay, you must be cool, I’ll let the kids pick a number and the person who left that comment number wins.

One more thing, though. Since Bobbie Faye has a bad day, what’s the worst you can come up with? Tell me in the comments; just saying, “enter me” isn’t enough. You gotta work for it ’cause baby, you’re still not working half as hard as Bobbie Faye does.

Thanks for the linkage! To Suey at It’s All About Books and to myself at Win a Book.

Edited to add: congratulations to Tracy at BookroomReviews for winning this copy! Hopefully she’ll read and review it there, too. This really is one of those books that deserves wider attention.

Booking Through Thursday has regained its stride, I’d say.

Think about your favorite authors, your favorite books . . . what is it about them that makes you love them above all the other authors you’ve read? The stories? The characters? The way they appear to relish the taste of words on the tongue? The way they’re unafraid to show the nitty-gritty of life? How they sweep you off to a new, distant place? What is it about those books and authors that makes them resonate with you in ways that other, perfectly good books and authors do not?

I think any of you groupies around here will know my answer: it’s all about character. If you asked me to describe that eternal classic Flowers in the Attic, I’d tell you about the evil grandmother, the panty-waist mom, the curious kids who were a bit too smart for their own good. Maybe I’d mention the air that hung over the whole book, dark, dank, and malodorously ugly. But I’d definitely talk about each character’s personality.

Same for just about any other book I read. Heck, I just finished The Rapture of Canaan and found myself thinking more about the character of Ninah and what a catalyst for change she is, versus her grandfather, around whom the society revolves. Really, the story’s about a community in flux, but not to me. It’s about how Ninah puts them there.

Now, to get a bit more personal…

If you’re not a groupie but just dropping by to visit, you should know that I’m a writer, and that one of the things that keep my regulars coming back to read the fiction that I post here is … yes, you guessed it. The emotional investment that all of these guys (and myself, of course!) have developed to my character, Trevor Wolff.

Here on the blog, I love to write about moments, outtakes I call them because they aren’t long enough to be a short story and they aren’t as fully contained as a good flash fiction ought to be. I pick these moments from the years leading up to Trevor’s Song, my novel awaiting publication, from the time around when the book is set, and I’ve even done one or two others that are set after the time period of the book.

Everyone comes back, time and again, week after week, to see what Trevor’s up to this time. Even if my readers can’t relate directly to Trevor, they key into him in very astute ways. They see that his gruffness is just a cover, that he’s smarter than he pretends to be, and that he’s a hell of a people person — in his own way. And when he and Mitchell start playing off each other, it’s better than George and Gracie or Lucy and Ricardo. (However, that sort of implies that the boys are gay, which they’re not. In fact, in the book, they find themselves in a bit of a love triangle, with a redhead at the center of it. Sort of.)

As a reader and as a writer, it’s all about character. The literary agent I’m still in discussions with has described Trevor’s Song as a character study.

That … umm, characterization … of my work flatters me beyond words.

If you click on Trevor or Mitchell‘s names, you’ll be taken to a page on my main website that gives you a quick character sketch. At the bottom of each page are links back here to the blog, direct links to different outtakes and Thursday Thirteen lists and other fun I’ve had with these two pretend men. Or you can go to the Free Downloads section of the site and do a tiny bit of reading in chronological order. Your choice, but I do invite you to poke around and become a groupie, too!

Thirteen Things for my Groupies 1. I’ve added a new download to the Free Downloads page of my website. 2. The new one is called Meeting Trevor. 3. You might have read it here, in a slightly different version. From the size of the comment trail, it looks like a lot of you have missed it. 4. I took some time and cleaned it up and edited it before letting it be a download. 5. That’s because what goes on the blog is usually a first draft, or close enough to it to be called a first draft. 6. Part of the idea here is that the downloads will be easier to find, even though you can click on any character on their page at the website and find a list of blog posts that involves them. 7. Another bonus of the outtakes is that they will be in chronological order, which is something that currently doesn’t exist anywhere. Some of you have asked for this. I’m happy to provide. 8. We’ll try to remember to put a little “NEW” icon by the newest outtake when we post them. 9. For now, they’ll all be set in the years before my novel, Trevor’s Song, takes place. You’ll get a unique look at the backstory that creates the book. 10. If Trevor’s Song isn’t published by the time I go through all my outtakes, I’ll figure something out. Self-publish or write more outtakes are the two most obvious solutions! 11. A bonus to doing this is that if there’s enough demand, I can collect the downloads into an actual book that you can buy and put on your shelves and give to friends. That’s going to be entirely dependent on demand, however. 12. One thing that jazzes me is that when people ask if they can buy my book, I can say no, but they can read for free on my website. 13. Tell all your friends. Let’s make them fall as deeply in love with Trevor and company as you are. If you don’t have a Groupie banner but want one, let me know!

Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!

The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!

Let me first tell you who’s up to what since my last report a whole two weeks ago…

LA Day, who is cool, has a new release at Ellora’s Cave: Satin Seduction. And for you Fictionwise shoppers, her Undercover Pleasure Droid (which is a truly kick-ass title and I want it for myself) is now available there.

The awesome and smart Shelley Munro seems to have her name on two new releases, too: Lovers at Last and Midnight Treat, an anthology that’s now available in print.

Beth Williamson, who I met at RT and thought was quite lovely and I’d like to be her friend, has an entry in the perfectly timed Sand, Sun, and Sex series. It’s available in an e-book AND in print, for those who prefer to hold a book, not some sort of electronic device. Oh, yeah. It’s called Marielle’s Marshal.

And my dear friend Red Garnier has another new one. Color my Heart is its name. You know you can’t resist.

Completely without intending to, I won a copy of the Nothing But Red anthology from Jessica Tudor, with whom I’ve been chatting all things Pittsburgh Penguins. This is an important book, one whose genesis just makes me sick. Let’s all band together and make a difference in the world. A positive one.

And now… to make a difference in YOUR world, let me rave about Toni McGee Causey‘s Bobbie Faye’s Very (very, very, very) Bad Day. I met Toni in an elevator at RT, where she showed off her Suck Me, Shuck Me t-shirt and raved about her book. She was on this incredible adrenaline high; I took to her immediately. Getting to know her a bit better at the Mystery Chix and a Dick breakfast that final morning before the book sale (hey, it was final for me!) was a treat. I hope to have lots more Toni goodness for you guys in the future. (Hey, Toni! Are you listening?)

Anyway. The book.

I mentioned in my last Book Talk that I was reading this and loving it. It only got better. Bobbie Faye is this woman who seems to be able to do nothing right, yet has as many fans as she has detractors. Think Stephanie Plum and her exploits and multiply it by a factor of … a million. If it can go wrong, it does (except for maybe blisters. Maybe.) — but somehow, Bobbie Faye finds a way out.

Not only does Causey write fantastic action sequences (that didn’t make me squint as I tried to envision and understand what was happening. Ever notice how some do?), but the romantic male lead… okay, his name is Trevor, so I’m partial in the first place. He’s a Trevor worthy of the name.

That was in April when I first met Toni. A few weeks ago, the second in the Bobbie Faye series came out, Bobbie Faye’s (Kinda, sorta, not exactly) Family Jewels. I threw it on my wish lists at the book trading sites … I’m not the only person at Paperback Swap who’s a fan of Bobbie Faye, let me tell you. I’m #50 of 56 (at last check) in line for a copy.

Know what that means? Word’s getting out, and fast. Check Toni and Bobbie Faye out and help spread the word, yourself. You know you want to.

You can thank me later.

(btw, stay tuned or scroll or something. I wound up with an extra copy of Very Bad Day and will be giving it away here in a second or two. See? I knew you wanted to!)