Peg Herring's Blog - Posts Tagged "go-home-and-die"
GO HOME AND DIE
"Sounds kind of mean," someone said of my April 1, 2010, release title, but it fits. Jack Porter's friend and business partner is only home from Vietnam a short while before he's stabbed to death in an alley. Other vets suffer the same fate: they "go home" from the war "and die" soon afterward. Jack wants to know who killed his only friend, and why.
Enter Carrie Walsh, a prim young woman who knows that her life is in need of change. She hates her job, her mother suffocates her with criticism, and she feels she's missing the liberation that other women in the late 1960s have demanded. To the dismay of her mother and her former bosses, she decides to help Jack open the private detection firm he and his fellow vet had planned.
Carrie and Jack sense a chemistry between them, but events intervene. Jack has secrets that shock and hurt Carrie, and soon those same secrets put her in danger. She has taken a step toward a more exciting life, but that step could be one too far. Carrie, too, may go home and die.
Tomorrow, I'll explain the inspiration for GO HOME AND DIE. Leave a blog comment any day between now and April 1 and get a chance at a free copy of this e-book!
Enter Carrie Walsh, a prim young woman who knows that her life is in need of change. She hates her job, her mother suffocates her with criticism, and she feels she's missing the liberation that other women in the late 1960s have demanded. To the dismay of her mother and her former bosses, she decides to help Jack open the private detection firm he and his fellow vet had planned.
Carrie and Jack sense a chemistry between them, but events intervene. Jack has secrets that shock and hurt Carrie, and soon those same secrets put her in danger. She has taken a step toward a more exciting life, but that step could be one too far. Carrie, too, may go home and die.
Tomorrow, I'll explain the inspiration for GO HOME AND DIE. Leave a blog comment any day between now and April 1 and get a chance at a free copy of this e-book!
Where Does a Book Idea Come From?
Short answer: I don't know.
Longer answer: GO HOME AND DIE is, I will admit, "a little bit me, a little bit you". I lived in Flint, Michigan in 1969. I was out of the women's lib loop, skinny, and unsure of what I wanted to make of myself. I wore glasses that I hated. So Carrie started with some of my hang-ups. But she became her own person so quickly that soon I hardly recognized her.
Jack Porter, Vietnam vet, is an amalgam of several people I knew back then. A friend at college had stepped on a land mine and was struggling to rebuild his life with a ruined leg. My husband (then boyfriend) returned in January of 1969. He and other friends told me little anecdotes about daily life that made their way into the book. They would talk about the food, the weather, the card games; they didn't talk about the war.
Somehow, forty years later, my brain concocted a mystery in which a prim young woman meets an embittered but decent (and hunky) vet. She learns from him about the way the world operates. He gets from her a reconnection with the goodness in life.
Of course, I had to throw in some problems along the way: a few murders and a very beautiful woman whose hold on Jack threatens everything: their budding relationship, their business partnership, and even their lives.
Comment on this blog and you'll be entered in a drawing for a free copy of this e-book, GO HOME AND DIE.
Longer answer: GO HOME AND DIE is, I will admit, "a little bit me, a little bit you". I lived in Flint, Michigan in 1969. I was out of the women's lib loop, skinny, and unsure of what I wanted to make of myself. I wore glasses that I hated. So Carrie started with some of my hang-ups. But she became her own person so quickly that soon I hardly recognized her.
Jack Porter, Vietnam vet, is an amalgam of several people I knew back then. A friend at college had stepped on a land mine and was struggling to rebuild his life with a ruined leg. My husband (then boyfriend) returned in January of 1969. He and other friends told me little anecdotes about daily life that made their way into the book. They would talk about the food, the weather, the card games; they didn't talk about the war.
Somehow, forty years later, my brain concocted a mystery in which a prim young woman meets an embittered but decent (and hunky) vet. She learns from him about the way the world operates. He gets from her a reconnection with the goodness in life.
Of course, I had to throw in some problems along the way: a few murders and a very beautiful woman whose hold on Jack threatens everything: their budding relationship, their business partnership, and even their lives.
Comment on this blog and you'll be entered in a drawing for a free copy of this e-book, GO HOME AND DIE.
GO HOME AND DIE
My "vintage" mystery concerns a prim young woman of the '60s, Carrie, who meets a recently-returned Vietnam vet, Jack. Their first meeting is a bit rocky, but they soon learn to appreciate each other's good points. Carrie admires Jack's courage in facing the problems life has thrown at him. Jack admires Carrie's ability to see the good in the world and help him see it as well.
I chose not to dwell on the politics of the Vietnam war. If you're looking for a commentary on why we were there or how people dealt with PTSD, this is not your book. It's simply a mystery that draws some of its plot from the fact that Jack was in Vietnam.
Of course, the pathway in a mystery is filled with bombs and booby traps. Jack has secrets
that Carrie has to deal with. Carrie has hang-ups that Jack can't understand. Their romance seems unlikely at first, then on, then off, permanently. Despite that, they come to trust each other and depend on each other's strengths.
I like characters with obstacles to overcome. While the mystery part of the story demands careful attention, and while the 1960's setting requires detail to recall and/or recreate for readers, it is the characters we care about. Will they survive? Will they grow? Will they find some sort of peace? And, of course, will they somehow, some way, end up together?
Buy GO HOME AND DIE here: http://redrosepublishing.com/bookstor...
I chose not to dwell on the politics of the Vietnam war. If you're looking for a commentary on why we were there or how people dealt with PTSD, this is not your book. It's simply a mystery that draws some of its plot from the fact that Jack was in Vietnam.
Of course, the pathway in a mystery is filled with bombs and booby traps. Jack has secrets
that Carrie has to deal with. Carrie has hang-ups that Jack can't understand. Their romance seems unlikely at first, then on, then off, permanently. Despite that, they come to trust each other and depend on each other's strengths.
I like characters with obstacles to overcome. While the mystery part of the story demands careful attention, and while the 1960's setting requires detail to recall and/or recreate for readers, it is the characters we care about. Will they survive? Will they grow? Will they find some sort of peace? And, of course, will they somehow, some way, end up together?
Buy GO HOME AND DIE here: http://redrosepublishing.com/bookstor...
Crawl Inside an Author's Mind
Are you the sort of reader who "psyches out" the author as you read? (Sorry about the '60s verbiage, but GO HOME AND DIE is weighing on my mind!)
I find myself noting elements of character, plot, and theme and attributing them to the author and his/her mood. We know that Mark Twain's work became darker as he aged, due perhaps to the deaths of those he loved but also to day-by-day butting heads with ignorant people.
Characters often say something that rings with the author's sincerity, and while an author should not peer through the curtains of the play, it can happen. At the end of THE JUNGLE, Upton Sinclair's views on government practically bash the reader over the head, ruining (for me) the pathos of the story he has told. Other authors are more subtle, but a reader who's paying attention discerns little gleams of opinion, little gems of individual wisdom.
The book's ending is very telling in terms of author attitude. Someone once commented to me that my characters usually move toward a fulfilling relationship as the book progresses. I can't help it; I like happy (or semi-happy) endings. There will be loss, because life is loss, but there will be the comfort of love, too. In GO HOME AND DIE, the reader should feel satisfied that Carrie has grown as a person and be optimistic about her future. (And as today's author knows, the reader should also hope for a sequel.)
I find myself noting elements of character, plot, and theme and attributing them to the author and his/her mood. We know that Mark Twain's work became darker as he aged, due perhaps to the deaths of those he loved but also to day-by-day butting heads with ignorant people.
Characters often say something that rings with the author's sincerity, and while an author should not peer through the curtains of the play, it can happen. At the end of THE JUNGLE, Upton Sinclair's views on government practically bash the reader over the head, ruining (for me) the pathos of the story he has told. Other authors are more subtle, but a reader who's paying attention discerns little gleams of opinion, little gems of individual wisdom.
The book's ending is very telling in terms of author attitude. Someone once commented to me that my characters usually move toward a fulfilling relationship as the book progresses. I can't help it; I like happy (or semi-happy) endings. There will be loss, because life is loss, but there will be the comfort of love, too. In GO HOME AND DIE, the reader should feel satisfied that Carrie has grown as a person and be optimistic about her future. (And as today's author knows, the reader should also hope for a sequel.)
I'm on the Radio
Well, not until Sunday. I'm guesting on BLOGTALK RADIO's Red Rose Author show to talk about my new ebook, GO HOME AND DIE. Take a listen Sunday at 2:00 (they're cached so you can listen later if you're busy with Easter dinner at that point.)
Go to http://www.blogtalkradio.com/redrosea...
Go to http://www.blogtalkradio.com/redrosea...
The Thrill of a Good Review
Having just received a very nice review for GO HOME AND DIE, my Vietnam-era mystery e-book, I got to wondering about reviews and reviewers. (You can read it at http://ahistoryofromance.wordpress.
com/reviews/patricia-pellicane-reviews/go-home-and-die/ and it's available on Amazon. or at Red Rose Publishing)
My first book got hardly any reviews. My second, HER HIGHNESS' FIRST MURDER, got lots, and it was a big boost for me as an author to know that reviewers were interested enough to choose the book from the hundreds available to them and then pleased enough to review it positively.
So my questions are these: As readers, do you pay attention to who does the reviewing? Do you read reviews randomly or only in the genre you prefer from a source you trust, like PW? Or do you find an individual reviewer you trust and pay attention to his/her recommendations?
For my own part, I never paid much attention to reviews until I met P.J. Coldren, but I've come to appreciate the talent it takes to review fairly and well. It isn't just "I liked it a lot." or "It stinks." At
least, it shouldn't be!
com/reviews/patricia-pellicane-reviews/go-home-and-die/ and it's available on Amazon. or at Red Rose Publishing)
My first book got hardly any reviews. My second, HER HIGHNESS' FIRST MURDER, got lots, and it was a big boost for me as an author to know that reviewers were interested enough to choose the book from the hundreds available to them and then pleased enough to review it positively.
So my questions are these: As readers, do you pay attention to who does the reviewing? Do you read reviews randomly or only in the genre you prefer from a source you trust, like PW? Or do you find an individual reviewer you trust and pay attention to his/her recommendations?
For my own part, I never paid much attention to reviews until I met P.J. Coldren, but I've come to appreciate the talent it takes to review fairly and well. It isn't just "I liked it a lot." or "It stinks." At
least, it shouldn't be!
GO HOME AND DIE - A Kindle Book
I was at a craft show on Saturday and was surprised to find people looking shocked at the title of my April release from Red Rose Publishing, GO HOME AND DIE. Funny. It didn't seem that scary to me.
GO HOME AND DIE is a Vietnam-era mystery about a prim young woman (Carrie) who wants to change her dull life but doesn't know how. When she witnesses the murder of a recently-returned Vietnam vet, she joins with his hunky-but-surly partner (Jack) to discover what happened. There are secrets, of course. Reviewer Patricia Pellicane says:
Ms. Herring’s wonderful style of writing managed to send me on a delightful trip down memory lane. She did a great job of catching the essence of a time when things were far more innocent and uncomplicated, all the while keeping my interest with an intriguing story that proved indeed to be a page turner. I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a good mystery.
See? GO HOME AND DIE isn't designed to scare, just designed to entertain!
GO HOME AND DIE is a Vietnam-era mystery about a prim young woman (Carrie) who wants to change her dull life but doesn't know how. When she witnesses the murder of a recently-returned Vietnam vet, she joins with his hunky-but-surly partner (Jack) to discover what happened. There are secrets, of course. Reviewer Patricia Pellicane says:
Ms. Herring’s wonderful style of writing managed to send me on a delightful trip down memory lane. She did a great job of catching the essence of a time when things were far more innocent and uncomplicated, all the while keeping my interest with an intriguing story that proved indeed to be a page turner. I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a good mystery.
See? GO HOME AND DIE isn't designed to scare, just designed to entertain!
I Can Stop Anytime I Want
Okay, so I bought an e-reader. And I had to try it out, of course, so I downloaded a book my husband has been wanting to read (and tricked him into trying the thing and finding out how easy it is to use. HA!)
Then, of course, I had to download my e-book (GO HOME AND DIE) to see what it looks like to my readers.
I heard from an online contact who likes my work, and I thought about her first book, which I read and really liked, so I tried her name, and there she was, an e-book author. So of course, I bought her book.
Do you see where this is going? Financial ruin, reading bliss, a TBR list stacking up in my little hand-held wonder. Am I happy? Of course!
Then, of course, I had to download my e-book (GO HOME AND DIE) to see what it looks like to my readers.
I heard from an online contact who likes my work, and I thought about her first book, which I read and really liked, so I tried her name, and there she was, an e-book author. So of course, I bought her book.
Do you see where this is going? Financial ruin, reading bliss, a TBR list stacking up in my little hand-held wonder. Am I happy? Of course!
