Five Characters I'd Love to be for Halloween

Here we are again for the Five Fandom Friday link up! I must say I am enjoying these little trips every week.

Let’s get right to the chase, shall we? Here they are in no particular order.

Captain Jack Sparrow – Pirates of the Caribbean movies

How much fun would it be to be a pirate (in the movie world, of course, forget the killing and the shooting and the scurvy and terrible food). I loved the Pirate movies and remember the ride as a child at Disney World. The long coat, the beads and shoot, there’s even a purse! What’s not to like about this?

Akasha, Queen of the Damned

Just because… Aaliyah. What an awesome costume. Nuff said.

Steampunk-ish Victorian

Black Victorian 2 — Image from http://www.vintag.es/2013/03/victorian-era-portraits-of-african.html

Fannie Hendricks, Wisconsin Historical Society

All I would need is to add a pair of goggles and an umbrella!

Poison Ivy

Yeah, so maybe she’s a little too gung-ho about plants and the environment, but a grrl’s gotta have a hobby right? And you can never have too many plants or loads of gorgeous red hair.

GoGo Yubari

She was the best thing about the Kill Bill movies….all of them.

You can beg better than that!

Thanks for reading! I had a great time picking out my virtual costumes.

Dahlia

Banned Books Week – My Favorites

“It was a dark and stormy night.”
Ah, Banned Books Week always makes me rub my hands together in delight and dust off my old, decrepit paperback books. Taped covers, “bookworm” holes and dog eared pages – nothing beats a great book…..

Unless it’s been banned. Just like bad boys, if a book is deemed “bad”, well, hell’s bells, I can’t wait to read it, or at least see what all the fuss is about. Many of the books I’ve read, I didn’t even realize were banned.

Let me share the list of my top five banned books that I read over and over again. You knew there was going to be a list!!

1. 1984 by George Orwell – “Do it to Julia!” I can’t say that I “enjoyed” this book as a matter of entertainment, but it sure did make one think. As a romance writer, I notice many authors are accused of creating insta-love between the two protagonists. Well, 1984 has one of the quickest cases of “insta-love” that I’ve ever read, with note passing to boot!

Reasons for challenge: “pro-communist and contained explicit sexual matter.”

2. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee – “I think there’s just one kind of folks. Folks.”

Gosh another “downer ending” book. Atticus lost the case, Tom Robinson got shot. Poor Mayella Ewell. But at least Bob Ewell got his just desserts….and Boo Radley….we’ll never know. You laughed, you cried and yes, it has become a part of me.

Reasons for challenge: Using the word “damn” and “hell devil”. Does “psychological damage to the positive integration process “. Uses the word “nigger”. “Conflicted with the values of the community.” The book has also been charged with being unfit for junior high use. “Contains profanity and racial slurs”. “Is degrading to African Americans.”

The last reason make me laugh. Anyone remember how tough Calpurnia was on Jem and Scout?

3. A Wrinkle in Time: “Don’t try to comprehend with your mind. Your minds are very limited. Use your intuition.”

I can’t say enough how much I adore this book. Science fiction, themes of love and forgiveness, and a little love story to boot. Plus a female lead who was smart and wore glasses AND braces? Sign me up! The discussion of a tesseract (which is now termed a wormhole), space travel and life on other planets.

Reason for challenge: Challenging religious beliefs, contains offensive language.

4. In Cold Blood – First of all, let me say that Philip Seymour Hoffman was capitivating in his portrayal of Truman Capote in Truman. It is also said that the characater of Dill in To Kill a Mockinbird was based on him. Regardless of the personal history between he and Harper Lee, this book is one of the first “true-ish crime” books that I’ve ever read. It’s not a “fun, light” read, not by any means, but a truly excellent and absorbing read just the same. Capote knows how to write a book that captures the reader and pulls him in.

Reason for challenge: “sex, violence and profanity.”

5. A Separate Peace – “Sarcasm… the protest of those who are weak.”

I saw this book the other day under my dresser. Gosh, I read it so long ago, but it sure sticks with me. Gene’s jealously of Finney and what it ultimately led to.

Reason for challenge: “filthy, trashy sex novel.” “Offensive language”.

Honorable Mentions:

Lord of the Flies

Native Son

The Autobiography of Malcolm X

It’s funny now that I look over this list. I read a lot of these books in high school and/or college, and to be honest, the real meaning and themes within the book didin’t hit home until I actually got out of school and began to “live”. It’s interesting now, looking back, how many of these books were truly ahead of their time.

So hey! What are some of your favorite books that have been challenged or banned?

Music Monday – Rock Plaza Central

New (to me) music that doesn’t have a host of different mediocre pop stars collaborating on the same tired old riff. A song that doesn’t have a rap as a bridge. A song that uses real instruments – folks aren’t singing to a track. A song that can sound different every time it’s performed.

In other words, a breath of fresh musical air.

Rock Central Plaza is the name of the group and they’re classified as “indie rock”, whatever that means in this musical age. I suppose it means they didn’t win a television talent show and/or aren’t manufactured acts pushes on an unsuspecting public as “music.”

Where did I find this gem? It’s on the soundtrack of an independent (of course) post apocalyptic film called “The Battery”:

From IMDB:

Two former baseball players, Ben (Jeremy Gardner) and Mickey (Adam Cronheim), cut an aimless path across a desolate New England. They stick to the back roads and forests to steer clear of the shambling corpses that patrol the once bustling cities and towns. In order to survive, they must overcome the stark differences in each other’s personalities. Ben embraces an increasingly feral, lawless, and nomadic lifestyle while Mickey is unable to accept the harsh realities of the new world and longs for the creature comforts he once took for granted. A bed, a girl, and a safe place to live. When the men intercept a radio transmission from a seemingly thriving, protected community, Mickey will stop at nothing to find it, even though it is made perfectly clear that he is not welcome.

I found it to be a pretty interesting movie. While not heavy on zombie gore, it is an in-depth look at the character interplay and how their differening personality effect decisions that are made. I’d recommend you checking it out if you’re into that kind of thing. Again, I warn you, this is no Resident Evil. Zombies aren’t popping out from every crack and crevice to be slaughtered in spectalcular gouts of putrefied blood. It’s a quiet, introspetive film.

All the music used in the film was apt, but this song stuck out to me, which is why I post it for you here. Enjoy!

Confessions of a Blogger

The Nerdy Girlie posted on her confessions on her blog and encourage others to do the same. So here I go…

1. I am a terrible scheduler and get sidetracked too often, which wastes time. This morning is a prime example of this. I was supposed order groceries online, run updates on the laptop and do three loads of laundry. As it turned out, I was too late (at 9:30 am!!) to schedule grocery pickup for the day, the updates on the laptop, which were supposed to take fifteen minutes, instead took an HOUR AND HALF, and therefore, I only got one load of laundry in. I could have run downstairs during downloading the updates and popped a load of laundry in, but I kept thinking “only five more minutes” over and over. Not to mention that I discovered a chicken literally frozen to the shelf in the deep freeze like it took a trek through Antarctica and didn’t make it. I had to save that one until tomorrow.

2. I feel awkward promoting myself. As an author, self-promotion is almost as important as writing the book. Problem is, I stink at self-promotion. It feels intrusive, annoying and self-serving. I’ve found it very difficult to promote beyond posting the book cover/link a couple of times on Facebook and writing a few blog posts about inspiration etc. It’s hard to find a “happy medium” and one tends to wonder….are people really paying attention?

3. I love lists. Five best movies? Six foods for energy? I love them all. I waste way too much time reading lists. Thing is, I learn a lot from these lists….enough to inspire lists of my own.

4. I have a lot of ideas for blogging…..but I don’t write them down. So when it comes time to actually write, I’m looking at a blank page with my fingers hovering over the keyboard. Or, what I WANT to write is so out there that I’m afraid no one will relate and/or care and I’ll get lots of nasty comments. It’s hard to find a balance. But did order a planner for myself (after having scoured Staples) and I am looking forward to writing down these ideas from now on.

5. Music is my muse. When I get ready to write, whether it be a tender/sexy love scene, a zombie-fighting scene (in my work in progress) or a blog post, I pop on the headphones. Fuel, Train, The Police, the Eighties, Tchaikovsky….whatever is the inspiration at the time, I click that playlist on Google Play. Then, hopefully, off to the races!!

What are some of your blogger confessions?

Music Monday – Inspiration for Loving Among the Dead

As most authors do, I have a playlist of songs I work with when I’m writing. It’s the playlist I think embodies the story, the characters and the mood of a certain scene. I have all that set out before me, at my fingertips so I can access it at the press of a button.

However, there are those songs that occurs to you after the story’s done, edited and published. That song which pops up out of almost nowhere and declares itself an official sponsor of your story.

It continues to amaze me how much music can not only soothe the savage beast but also bare one’s soul.

Judith Graham holds her own in her zombie-proofed fortress that was once her childhood home. Through the foresight of her survivalist parents, she’s set for at least a year, but overwhelming loneliness and crushing boredom drives her out into the deserted, yet still dangerous streets of her neighborhood. She crosses paths with another traveler, Sky Beckett, who has decided to take the dangerous journey South to find out if his family is still alive in Tennessee.

A reluctant Jude allows him to stay at her home. Determined to remain a “Lonely Stranger” …..

When I walk, stay behind
Don’t get close to me
‘Cause it’s sure to end in tears
So just let me be
— Eric Clapton

she doesn’t want to get close to anyone because anything could happen, at anytime. Sky takes more of a moderate, if not almost optomistic view of post-apocalyptic life, wherein you keep trying until you can’t try anyone. He struggles to get her to see the facts as they stand and staying in her house is only going to get more dangerous, no matter what fortification she thinks she has.

He also sees that Jude is perhaps not as strong as she thinks she is.

Who’s gonna tell you when
It’s too late?
Who’s gonna tell you things
Aren’t so great?

You can’t go on
Thinkin’ nothing’s wrong,
Who’s gonna drive you home
Tonight?

****

Just by chance, those songs rolled up on my playlist (while I was cleaning no less) and I was struck at how apt they are and I had to share.

Thanks for reading!

1Love

Dahlia

Haven’t read Jude and Sky’s story? Check out “Loving Among the Dead” at the following outlets

All Romance E Books

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