Mellissa Thomas's Blog, page 2
May 9, 2013
10 Questions with ‘Abstracted’ Leading Man Roy Chambers [Character Study]
International Supremacy Bureau agent Roy Chambers on nearing midlife, Black women, and retirement.
Interview by Mellissa Thomas
1) So let’s get right to it, Roy. Do you work out as much as you do to get girls, and do you use steroids?
(laughs) Wow, you really did cut to the chase. Well, yes and no, and hell no.
Come again?
Well, I say no because I’ve been at this for years, and if I stop now, it’ll look bad. I say yes because it would be nice to get some tender gender attention.
As for taki...
10 Questions with ‘Abstracted’ Leading Man Roy Chambers
International Supremacy Bureau agent Roy Chambers on nearing midlife, Black women, and retirement.
Interview by Mellissa Thomas
1) So let’s get right to it, Roy. Do you work out as much as you do to get girls, and do you use steroids?
(laughs) Wow, you really did cut to the chase. Well, yes and no, and hell no.
Come again?
Well, I say no because I’ve been at this for years, and if I stop now, it’ll look bad. I say yes because it would be nice to get some tender gender attention.
As for taking stero...
April 18, 2013
Review: Why ‘Alex Cross’ Didn’t Quite Cut It as a Solid Mystery Film
James Patterson’s MPD criminal profiler Alex Cross has had a long life across 21 books (10 years), and scored three big-screen adaptations.
The first two produced a ramp-up effect: Along Came a Spider was first and lukewarm, despite Morgan Freeman and Michael Wincott’s performances as hero and villain, respectively. Kiss the Girls, though more vignetted, raised the ante psychologically and cinematically, thanks to the strength of co-stars Morgan Freeman and Ashley Judd. Its story was more com...
Why ‘Alex Cross’ Didn’t Quite Cut It as a Solid Mystery Film
James Patterson’s MPD criminal profiler Alex Cross has had a long life across 21 books (10 years), and scored three big-screen adaptations.
The first two produced a ramp-up effect: Along Came a Spider was first and lukewarm, despite Morgan Freeman and Michael Wincott’s performances as hero and villain, respectively. Kiss the Girls, though more vignetted, raised the ante psychologically and cinematically, thanks to the strength of co-stars Morgan Freeman and Ashley Judd. Its story was more comp...
April 11, 2013
New Bureau Evidence: Tenderfoot’s “Sucklings” [Poem]
by Agent Maia Highland
Our target Tenderfoot tends to leave little poems, or poetic snippets, in her wake as a bread crumb trail for Roy and me. I found this one by the Jacuzzi in the apartment of one of the most powerful men in all of Italy.
What were Roy and I doing there? Returning his stolen gun.
How did we get it? Long story, but the thief shot at my head with it.
Incident aside, we decided to do the right thing and return the gun to its rightful owner.
But we found more than we bargain...
New Bureau Evidence: Tenderfoot’s “Sucklings”
by Agent Maia Highland
Our target Tenderfoot tends to leave little poems, or poetic snippets, in her wake as a bread crumb trail for Roy and me. I found this one by the Jacuzzi in the apartment of one of the most powerful men in all of Italy.
What were Roy and I doing there? Returning his stolen gun.
How did we get it? Long story, but the thief shot at my head with it.
Incident aside, we decided to do the right thing and return the gun to its rightful owner.
But we found more than we bargained for...
April 4, 2013
10 Questions with ‘Abstracted’ Protagonist Maia Highland [Character Study]
International Supremacy Bureau Agent Maia Highland on her military ambitions, post-Tenderfoot plans, and being surrounded by men.
Interview by Mellissa Thomas
1) So you’re the lead agent in the Tenderfoot case. What’s it like to narrate it?
Oh, I’m the lead? That’s news to me. As for narrating…[shrugs] I guess you can call it that. I’m just working the case. Whatever you do, just don’t show me that stuff or play it back for me to see or hear. Can’t stand the sound of my own voice or seeing...
10 Questions with ‘Abstracted’ Protagonist Maia Highland
International Supremacy Bureau Agent Maia Highland on her military ambitions, post-Tenderfoot plans, and being surrounded by men.
Interview by Mellissa Thomas
1) So you’re the lead agent in the Tenderfoot case. What’s it like to narrate it?
Oh, I’m the lead? That’s news to me. As for narrating…[shrugs] I guess you can call it that. I’m just working the case. Whatever you do, just don’t show me that stuff or play it back for me to see or hear. Can’t stand the sound of my own voice or seeing mysel...
March 21, 2013
What Draws Us to a Thriller or Suspense Novel?
Iconic Jack Reacher thriller author Lee Child talks about it. J.J. Abrams focused his TED Talk around it. It’s why the classic Law and Order series (and their popular subseries SVU and Criminal Intent) continues its syndicated run on many cable networks (i.e. USA, TNT, etc.).
It’s that delicious torture that keeps us glued to our seats, even through the commercials, until the show returns. In fact, it’s used against us right before the commercial break in the form of the effective (though anno...
February 19, 2013
An Abstracted Debut: The Little Suspense Novel that Could
Two-and-a-half years. That’s how long the Tenderfoot Series has been in the making. In truth, it was never written to be a series, but a single manuscript.
It began as a chapbook idea, broken into five categories, but then I was inspired to change it into a mystery/suspense novel, incorporating those chosen chapbook poems into the story as “evidence”, clues into the target’s psyche to help the protagonists make a solid profile and deduce a way to hunt her down.
It was a solid idea, and I went r...
