March 6, 2017
I’m extra excited to bring today’s Spotlight book to you. It’s written by my friend Anne-Marie Klein, and it’s part of her Behind Blue Eyes series. This one’s called Love Reign O’er Me, and you may recognize that lyric. I hope you do, anyway!
Let’s get to it. Anne-Marie, what song makes you think of your book?
A question tailor-made for me and for my book series, at least, and one that is answered by looking at the front cover. The music of The Who captured me as a teenager in the late 70s, so much so that I began to imagine a narrative of who the bad man, sad man Pete Townshend had so famously written about might be: many pages later, the Behind Blue Eyes series of rock novels was born. My four books follow a troubled young rock musician from his arrival in Toronto from London in 1978 to 1994, and readers will see how the lyrics echo his difficult path to success amidst family drama and great love stories in rock and rock and fashion settings on both sides of the pond.
This might be the first time EVER that an entire band’s work inspired a novel. I linked to the Song “Behind Blue Eyes” but I know Anne-Marie well enough to know that the entire band is this lady’s muse. And honestly, I admire her fandom.
Ready for the entire description? Here goes:
Son of a wealthy, successful, and famous British designer, Ian was born into the world of the rich and shameless. He blames himself, and his father, for his mother’s death, and has run far away to start a new life. Beautifully blond, musically talented, but emotionally troubled, he hides his pain behind pale blue eyes and drinks to numb the guilt that has followed him across the ocean. When he meets Sarah, the fiery-haired singer with all the connections to make his dreams come true, will the burdens of his past destroy their love and everything they’ve ever wanted?
Behind Blue Eyes is a new four-part series following a young musician’s turbulent life as he makes his rock and roll dreams come true in a city far from where he grew up. Equal parts family saga, love story, and rock and roll circus, this first novel will take you back to the late 70s in Toronto for a dramatic roller-coaster ride through the world of music. Inspired by the Pete Townshend song made famous by The Who, the series is at once a nostalgic love letter to the author’s hometown and to the music she listened to while growing up there.
Ready for your own copy? I sure am.
Here’s some links:
And connect with Anne-Marie. You’ll be glad you did because she is awesome.
Website
Facebook author page
Twitter: @badmansadman
March 24, 2014
You guys know I love getting out and about and meeting people. Today’s guest is a Triberr friend, and you guys know I dig my Triberr friends.
Without further ado, here’s SM Johnson to talk about her book, Jeremiah Quick.
The answer is almost impossible. There are so many songs on my playlist for Jeremiah Quick – six and a half hours’ worth, actually. It took me two days of browsing that playlist to finally pick “>Behind Blue Eyes by The Who as the answer to this question.
A lot of the music on my JQ Playlist is similar in tone and message to Behind Blue Eyes, only most of the others have more words. So I figured for this one choice, I’d keep it simple. Jeremiah and Pretty try (but fail) to connect through music, so there are a lot of references to songs and artists in this book, especially near the beginning. This is actually the first song mentioned in the book.
Jeremiah Quick is, at base, the story of high school companions Jeremiah Quick and Pretty Loberg reconnecting twenty years after they’d been friends – and how the most benign relationship can have a huge impact on our character and moral development. The story is a mix of past and present, and because of this, I feel comfortable choosing a song that’s survived over the course of decades, made and remade by many different artists… and yet… the song, at its heart, remains the same. I don’t want to spoil anything here, so I’ll say only that this concept is well-reflected in Jeremiah Quick.
For me, this song was damn near the start of my obsessive need to know the lyrics of songs. I was, oh, somewhere around eight or nine years old when my brother started playing The Who, very loudly, behind his closed bedroom door. I remember the green shag carpeting in the hallway tickling my nose as I lay on the floor outside that door, my ear pressed as close as I could manage to the space at the bottom of the door, barely breathing because I was trying to decipher the lyrics. So, really, this song was the very first song of my life that I memorized on purpose.
That makes it special.
And it’s interesting to me that my first song was damn dark. Huh.
Thanks for asking!
Wow! What a story! But if it’s not enough of a story, check out SM’s in-depth answer, posted at her own blog.
Need to know what the book’s about? Me, too. Here’s the description.
Jeremiah is Other, he’s always been Other, and he’s always fascinated Pretty Loberg with his Otherness. He doesn’t give a fuck about society, or middle class values, or following the crowd. He believes in anarchy, self-education, doing the research, and making up one’s own mind. He believes in asking cui bono? – who benefits?
To pampered and spoiled middle class good-girl Pretty, Jeremiah was terrifying. And she couldn’t stay away.
She’d been trained since her earliest years to follow the crowd, not stand out, don’t embarrass the family. Stick to the status quo and not only will everything be fine, but everyone will like you.
Jeremiah didn’t like her. Not at all. In fact, sometimes she thought he hated her.
When he finds her twenty years after high school, Pretty gets into his car, even though she knows Jeremiah will disrupt her marriage and her life.
Behind blue eyes is a man with a quick brain, a cynical outlook, and a penchant for the subversive. He’s kinky, mean, controlling, and more than a little bit broken.
Pretty wants to fix Jeremiah.
Jeremiah wants to break Pretty, remake her, and talk her into doing something terrible.
Only one of them will leave the dungeon alive.
Behind Blue Eyes as performed by The Who. Here’s a studio version with a cool slide show. The song has been covered by many other artists, as well. For a more interesting viewing, here’s a link to the song performed by The Who in 1979.
Need a copy? I think I might!
Buy it at Smashwords (affiliate link)
Amazon
Get to know SM Johnson!
May 27, 2013
Rock fiction alert! Rock Fiction alert!!!
Why Anne-Marie and I haven’t hooked up sooner is beyond me. I think we’ve tried and it’s been me who’s dropped the ball. It’s not for lack of intent, but for lack of time, I promise!
So Anne-Marie is here today to talk to us about the latest entry into her quadrilogy, Behind Blue Eyes. This volume is called Let My Love Open the Door and why do I feel the need to windmill my strumming arm and smash a guitar before handing things over to a deaf, dumb, and blind kid who plays a mean pinball?
On that note… Here’s Anne-Marie.
What a wonderfully easy question when your book series is based on a famous song. Or is it? The quadrilogy is called Behind Blue Eyes, and so one might be tempted to start humming along with Roger Daltrey or even delve deep into Pete Townshend’s more haunting solo version. But then, you start to think about the three books you have published so far, each with its own Who-related title, and choosing between Love Reign o’er Me, Love Ain’t for Keeping, and finally, Let My Love Open the Door seems impossible. They’re all great songs, and they each have a role to play in telling Ian Harrington’s story. Ian is the main character across the four-part rock and roll saga, a talented but troubled young rock musician who has fled his homeland to start a new life, burdened by a terrible secret and wanting a career in music. He is at once a bad man and sad man, a creation of my imagination from when I first heard the song Behind Blue Eyes in the late 1970s. I threw him into the Toronto of that time, added a great cast of characters to complicate his new life, and weaved a rock and roll story with drama, romance, and to quote a reader review, “euphoric highs and startling crashesâ€. And so we come full circle back to the original song, which was the catalyst and inspiration for the entire tale. I present you the Pete Townshend version, if only to give full credit to the man who started me on this writing journey.
Ooh, yeah… this is my sorta stuff!! Check OUT this blurb:
It’s 1986. Ian Harrington is living the good life in Toronto: he is the lead singer of Something Else and is raising his six-year-old daughter, Victoria. His life is busy and creatively satisfying, but he has not been able to hold a romantic relationship since Sarah. A chance encounter with a former flame offers the possibility of lasting love, but the liaison is fraught with conflicts and challenges both new and echoed. By following his heart, Ian risks having his world turned upside down. Standing skill threatens far more…
Links!
Behind Blue Eyes: Part Three: Let MyLove Open the Door (paperback)
Lulu author spotlight for Behind Blue Eyes series
Book 3 (Let My Love Open the Door) Amazon link
Personal links:
Author website
Twitter @BadManSadMan
October 9, 2012
Just in time for Rocktober!
(Well, unless it’s been delayed, which sorta ruins the plans)
The one, the only, the legendary Pete Townshend has finally written his memoirs. It’s only taken him something like 40 years to get around to this, but I think that’s a bonus — there’s more for him to include! It’s supposed to have been released yesterday, so scurry over to your favorite retailer (bonus points if you shop at an indie and no, Amazon’s not an indie!) and score your very own copy.
What do you mean, “Who’s Pete Townshend?”
WHO?
As in THE Who. As in Pinball Wizard and Roger Daltry and groundbreaking, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (From way back in 1990, even! They got in EARLY, and for good reason, too). As in, as in, as in…
You KNOW I need this one, and pronto. Yesterday. Back in September on the day I drafted this post, in fact…
