Joyce Lamb's Blog, page 3

The true colors of Dexter

I've just finished watching the first season of Dexter . Holy cow, I was riveted. One of the things I love most about the show is the theme of nature vs. nurture. You know the theory, right? Some people believe that how a person is raised, or nurtured, determines who they become as an adult. Others believe a person becomes who they are because that's the way they were born -- that's their nature.
(If you haven't seen the first season of Dexter and plan to watch it, please be aware that there are MAJOR spoilers ahead. Turn back now!)
For the entire first season of Dexter, another serial killer plays a game with our hero. The so-called Ice Truck Killer taunts Dexter with clues about who he is (and about who Dexter is, though Dexter doesn't realize that). Dexter is fascinated by the Ice Truck Killer and enjoys the game. It's a puzzle for him to solve. There's an underlying theme about blood -- Dexter is a forensics specialist of some sort who works with blood and the Ice Truck Killer drains the blood of his victims. You find out the significance of that at the end of the season: The Ice Truck Killer is the brother Dexter hasn't seen, or remembered, since he was 3, when they witnessed their mother's horrific slaughter then spent three days trapped in a cargo container in her pool of blood. Hence, the focus on blood -- they're literally blood brothers.
What's so incredibly cool about the nature vs. nurture theme of this storyline is this: Yes, Dexter is a serial killer. But he kills only people who are also killers. He was raised by his adoptive father who recognized Dexter's "nature" and helped him to deal with it in a way that has both protected Dexter from discovery and forced him to have standards for who and why he kills. So Dexter's "nature" is to kill, but his father "nurtured" him to develop the way he kills.
Dexter's brother, Brian, on the other hand, had no such "father" to nurture him. His nature is to kill, like Dexter's, but Brian has become a serial killer with no qualms about killing innocent people -- probably like most serial killers. Because, you know, I know so many.
The game between Dexter and Brian reaches its climax when Brian kidnaps Dexter's half-sister (who Brian has also wooed into being his lover) and wants Dexter to help him kill her. Now, Dexter is a sociopath, so technically he's not supposed to feel any emotions. But he has to make a choice: kill his sister, who's kind of annoyed him lately with all her demands that he open up to her emotionally, or kill his newly discovered brother, who totally understands who Dexter is and why. 
But Dexter can't bring himself to kill his half-sister, because, as he says, "I'm fond of her." Brian has no problem with killing her, even though he's developed their relationship all the way up to a marriage proposal. So while Dexter is technically a sociopath, he still feels affection for his sister -- because of his nurturing upbringing by his father. Brian had no such nurturing upbringing. So when Dexter makes the choice -- his sister, who doesn't have any idea who he really is, or his brother, the only person alive who does know who he is and understands him -- it's devastating. But nurture wins over nature.
Another reason this theme speaks to me is that I explore it in my new release, True Colors . In that, the villain, Butch Magee, is "trained" from a young age by another serial killer. Butch already had serial killer tendencies, what with dismembering small animals as a kid and such. So his "nature" is already established when the serial killer kidnaps him and starts the training. The heroine, Alex, has the psychic ability to "flash" back on another person's most traumatic episodes, which she experiences and feels as if they actually happened to her. When she gets kidnapped by Butch, she starts flashing on all the things that happened to him as he grew up with his kidnapper, the things that "trained" him to be a serial killer. When Alex escapes, she worries that she's somehow damaged, because she experienced the same things Butch did, and at a very accelerated pace. But the hero, Logan, points out that being a killer is not her nature and the way she was raised, or nurtured, will prevent her from losing her sense of right and wrong.  
It was an interesting theme to explore, so I was especially thrilled when the same theme popped up in Dexter. Now if I could just get Showtime to make a series based on my True trilogy!

I set my books to music

I love music. I mean, LOVE it. When I was in third grade, I played the violin. Apparently, I was pretty good at it, cuz after only a few months of getting lessons as part of a group, I started receiving them one-on-one from the violin teacher, Ms. Kuchenmeister. I swear I'm not making that up. That was her name. And she WAS kinda kooky. I mean that totally affectionately. 
So anyway, after giving up the violin -- cuz, you know, I was expected to practice. Ew. -- I promptly fell in love with Tommy Roe's greatest hits album. It was Mom's before I claimed it. I would play that puppy over and over. (Fun fact: In True Vision, heroine Charlie sings my favorite Tommy Roe song, Sweet Pea, in her head to center herself when her psychic ability gets out of hand.) Next, I fell for David Cassidy and the Partridge Family, replaying the single I Think I Love You full blast on my Fisher-Price turntable until I'm sure my dad wanted to cram himself into a corner, cover his ears and just rock.  
My love of music snowballed from there. I won't bore you with how many days' worth of music I have stored in my iTunes (29.9), but I will get to the point: Given my love of music, it's fitting that when I write a book, I usually pick a certain kind of music or even a particular artist to listen to while I write. My choice varies by book, and I think of the music I've chosen as the "soundtrack" of that book. 
Some of my "soundtracks": True Vision : Minnie Driver's album Everything I've Got in My Pocket . Minnie Driver, the actress, you say? Yep. She has a beautiful voice. Smooth and mellow, and her music is very non-intrusive. That's not to say it's boring. Boring music works for me only when I'm trying to sleep, and that's not good when there's a book deadline. I recently downloaded Driver's latest record, but I haven't listened to it much yet. I'm thinking my subconscious is keeping me away from it in case it ends up serving as the soundtrack for my next book. True Colors : The soundtrack of the second season of Battlestar Galactica (the remade version, not the one from the '80s). The music, by the amazing Bear McCreary (love that name!), was the perfect backdrop for the dark, haunting mood of True Colors. I listened to it repeatedly but never got tired of it, because the music became a part of the story. When I hear it now, my brain immediately slips into True Colors mode. Which isn't a great mode to be in, cuz True Colors is pretty dark. Sort of like Battlestar Galactica! True Calling : My music choices for this one, the third in the True trilogy (to be released in December), were more eclectic. I listened to selections from the movie soundtracks of The Fountain , Crash and Up . I also listened to Battlestar Galactica again, as well as mellow piano music by David Lanz and Suzanne Ciani (kinda New Age-y -- very pretty) and, believe it or not, a song or two from Cirque du Soleil. I'm not sure why my choices were more eclectic. Maybe because the hero, Mac, is somewhat of a goof at times, so he keeps the dark plot a bit lighter than the plot in True Colors, so that led to mixing in lighter fare instead of sticking with the moody BSG. Cold Midnight : This one was easy: Sarah McLachlan all the way. Why? Angst. Lots and lots and lots of angst. No one does angst better than Sarah McLachlan, in my opinion.So … what about you? If you had to pick a soundtrack, say, for your life right now, what would it be?

Another recommendation scores: How to Train Your Dragon

Over the holidays, I watched How to Train Your Dragon , another recommendation by a good friend. Man, my friends have good taste! 

How to Train Your Dragon is an animated adventure starring Hiccup, who lives in a village of dragon-hating Vikings. His goal in life ... well, not his goal in life, but his family's goal for his life, is for him to become a dragon slayer as fierce as his father. Thing is, while Hiccup desperately wants to slay dragons, to please his father and to fit in, he doesn't really have the stomach for it. He's more the cerebral type.

One night, he manages to take down the Holy Grail of dragons: a night fury. No one has ever seen a night fury up close, let alone brought one down. Hiccup is beside himself with excitement ... until he finds the incapacitated dragon and can't bring himself to finish it off. Instead, he frees the dragon from its bonds. He returns the next day to see the dragon trying to fly, but it can't, because his tail was injured when Hiccup captured him. Hiccup returns again, bearing food for the dragon. What follows is the development of an endearing friendship between Hiccup and the dragon, affectionately named Toothless.


Toothless is so darn cute he reminds me of my equally cute cat, Allie. Naturally, I couldn't get a pic of her making the face Toothless is making at above, but I swear on a stack of Fancy Feast that she's made that exact same expression more than once. But I digress. 

I won't spoil you any more than I already have on How to Train Your Dragon, but suffice to say the tale's (tail's!) a good one. It'll make you laugh. It'll make you cry. It'll make you write a blog post about it.

So, hey, what's your favorite animated movie? I'm also partial to Up. I love the song that plays when the house first takes flight with all the balloons -- it's good music to write to.

I'm in love with a sociopath

Through the magic of Netflix and Apple TV, I've finally gotten to watch Dexter, the critically acclaimed Showtime series (it's won Emmys!) about a lovable serial killer. I was skeptical. A lovable serial killer? Kittens are lovable. Puppies are lovable. My nieces and nephews and great-nieces are lovable. But a serial killer? Friends I respect no matter what goofy things they recommend insisted I would like this show. So I gave it a try.

Let me say first: I love my Apple TV! Dexter streams so seamlessly through Netflix onto my high-def Vizio that I catch myself admiring the picture instead of paying attention to what I'm watching. It makes me so very happy. 

On to Dexter: I'm only four or so episodes in, and my friends were right: I love it. Michael C. Hall, who I thought would in my mind forever be David Fisher of Six Feet Under, is a totally different person as Dexter Morgan. Which makes sense. I mean, the guy's an actor, after all. But still. I loved Hall as David Fisher. He was the kind, thoughtful brother who balanced the whiny, narcissistic Nate, played by Peter Krause. It still irks me that Six Feet Under killed off David's gorgeous partner, Keith, in the series finale. And no matter how many times I watch Brothers & Sisters, Rachel Griffiths will always be the self-destructive Brenda to me. The day Sarah Walker has sex with a stranger in a department store, I won't be surprised. But I digress. Happens.

Back to Dexter: The storytelling in this show is rich with details. Only four eps in, and I already know how Dexter became a serial killer and how long he's struggled to hide the fact that he's a sociopath. It's interesting, to me anyway, that all the things he does to "pretend" he's normal are the things that endear him to me. He says and does the right things to put his emotionally damaged girlfriend at ease. He dotes on her kids. He looks out for his sister. And he's helping the police track another serial killer. It's a game to him, but he's still helping. 

What I love most about Dexter: The people he tortures and kills are bad, bad people. The innocent appear to be safe with him. In one of the early eps, for instance, his girlfriend, Rita, has a problem with her super bitchy neighbor, who's not taking very good care of the dog her ex left behind. She's not starving it or anything. She just leaves it in the back yard, where it cries and whines a lot. Dexter tries to get the neighbor to take the dog inside, because the crying is upsetting Rita's kids and interrupting their sleep. The cranky neighbor blows him off. She also blows off Rita, leveling a cruel jab or two at her, too. As I was watching, I kept thinking, "Dexter needs to kill that bitch." And I kinda worried about what might happen to the dog. But Dexter does nothing to either one -- because even though the neighbor is a cold-hearted witch, she's innocent. Turns out, I was the one who wanted her dead, not Dexter. And I'm not a sociopath. (I swear!)  

I'm looking forward to how this series plays out. I expect good things. And I expect Dexter will keep playing with my morals and emotions. Sounds good to me!


Anybody else watching Dexter? Or maybe you discovered a great TV show or movie that you at first thought wouldn't appeal to you?

Awesome audio book (and narrator): Museum of Thieves

Several weeks ago, I listened to the most awesome audio book: Museum of Thieves by Lian Tanner. Part of the credit for it being so awesome goes to the narrator, Claudia Black, who played the awesome Aeryn Sun on the awesome Farscape. (Hmm, I'm noticing a trend here.) 
The story is entertaining all by itself. It takes place in a dystopian-like land called Jewel, where meekly following the rules without question is exemplary behavior and the children are literally tethered to their parents because of an overblown fear for their safety. The main character, 12-year-old Goldie, doesn't fare too well with those kinds of restrictions. On the day she's supposed to be legally "separated" from her parents, meaning she no longer has to have a leash, Jewel is rocked by a bombing. Goldie takes the opportunity to run away and ends up at the Museum of Dunt. There, she discovers a museum that is actually alive and a group of quirky characters who want her to help them try to overthrow Jewel's tyrannical leader.
Claudia Black has an amazing ability to handle multiple voices, accents and tones. Her range is such that the voices of men sound like real men, rather than the typical girly-girl man voice that most female narrators have no choice but to use. And Tanner's writing is so filled with emotion and energy that you can tell Black is having a blast reading the story. 
I've bookmarked one of my favorite parts and listen to it when I'm frustrated or cranky, cuz it totally cheers me up. It involves an altercation between Goldie and the boy who's eventually her partner in crime. Toadspit (yep, that's his name) has an attitude, and he and Goldie do NOT get along at first. Toadspit is annoyed that he has to teach Goldie the ropes, and Goldie is annoyed that Toadspit is annoyed. Cuz, you know, that's how boys and girls are sometimes.
When one of the adults punishes Goldie and Toadspit by banning them from communicating by talking, they're forced to use "finger talk," or sign language. Thing is, they've learned different versions of finger talk, so what means "follow me" to Toadspit means "hit me" to Goldie. She's no dummy, but she very much enjoys misunderstanding his command. What ensues is a hilarious exchange that devolves into a mud fight and the two laughing hysterically. Black reads the exchange with such dead-on portrayals of two frustrated, stubborn (but oh so lovable) adolescents that I can't help but laugh every time I listen.
This is the first audio book that I restarted from the beginning the minute it ended. I wish Claudia Black would narrate more of these! Perhaps I'll have my people call her people. : ) If only!
What about you? Is there an audio book/print book you've listened to/read more than once because you enjoyed it so much?

What I'm listening to (audio books)

I've spent most of the past two months immersed in the last two audio books in The Hunger Games trilogy by Suzanne Collins. I loved the first book among the trio, which I wrote about here quite awhile ago. (I swear that there are no spoiler alerts coming on these books!)

The second of the trilogy, Catching Fire , was completely mesmerizing. I was tempted to drive around the block a few times just to keep listening. I even welcomed traffic jams. Traffic jams! It always seemed as though I was turning the book off right at a good part -- which just means the entire thing was one big good part. Amazing. 

I've talked back to audio books before, saying stuff like, "Well, duh." And "Ya think?" Cuz, you know, I'm kinda sarcastic, and stupid characters make me slightly crazy. OK, majorly crazy. But with Catching Fire, I literally shouted "Oh my God!" when the plot took a shocking turn. When the character said something to the effect of "I didn't see that coming," I responded, "Neither did I!" That twist made me tingle for days afterward. Yeah, I know that sounds weird, but this is the thing: Most writers see the plot twists coming even in the most cleverly written stories. When I saw The Sixth Sense (Sixth Sense spoiler alert!!), I knew immediately that Bruce Willis' character was dead. I could tell by the way he interacted (or didn't) with other characters. So it was an extra special treat every time that Catching Fire caught  me by surprise. 

I'm about halfway through the third in the trilogy, Mockingjay , and already I've been blindsided by an unexpected turn in the plot. I knew something was coming -- because the author trained me on the other two books -- but when it happened, I was still blown away. How does Suzanne Collins do that? As a reader, I'm thrilled. As an author, I'm examining her storytelling from all angles, trying to figure out how I can do it, too.

Well, one can dream, right?

What about you? Any books that have shocked you with a plot twist?

I kinda followed that ...

Some friends and I saw Inception this weekend, starring Leonardo DiCaprio as a man who "extracts" information from people's dreams to use against them or implants info to manipulate them. That's a very tiny nutshell of a plot explanation. When I heard what the movie was about, I got that knot in my tummy that writers get when they hear someone has just published a book that has a plot similar to the one they just wrote. Not good. Cuz, you see, the third book in my Trueology, True Calling, involves spies who "mine" information from the memories of bad guys to help put them away. Sure, Inception centers around dreams, and True Calling focuses on memories, but still. I had a moment. Luckily, the stories are WAY different.

I liked Inception. Took awhile, though. The first 20 minutes or so were tough to follow, until I got oriented. The writer in me thinks the opening was too confusing and viewers would have been better served by a beginning that didn't start at the end of the story. But that's just me. Others in my group didn't have a problem with it.

Visually, the movie was amazing. Because much of it takes place in dream worlds, anything can happen. Landscapes reshape and fold in on each other. Staircases go on for infinity -- or end in mid-air. People can get fatally wounded but not die. A paranormal writer's dream.

One thing that bugged me, and this isn't about Inception but about the previews. We saw four or five previews, and each of them had one thing in common: They all starred well-known actors (Ben Affleck, Sylvester Stallone, Michael Douglas, Shia LeBeouf, Zac Efron) but unknown actresses (with the possible exception of Carey Mulligan, who was nominated for an Oscar this year for An Education).

A couple of the movies didn't appear to have any women in them at all. Are all the actresses out there considered too old to land movie deals? Are they relegated to starring in "chick flicks" or the next cable channel series, like The Closer or Damages? (Not that I would complain about that: I love those shows.)

I get that the previews were aimed at the audience most likely to be drawn to Inception (men). But lots of women like Leo, too, not to mention the idea of a really cool movie. Inception, by the way, also stars Ellen Page, and thank God, her role wasn't to be eye candy. Can't say the same for the previews, though. Clearly, Hollywood still caters to the boys.

Who knew? I'm a Versatile Blogger ...

Thanks, Susan Vaughan (the fabulous author of the wonderful romantic suspense Primal Obsession ), for awarding me the Versatile Blogger Award!

The rules: I'm supposed to list six things about myself that are true and one that's a lie (modified rules courtesy of Nina Pierce, awesome writer of the hot A Touch of Lilly .

I'm going to be a total lemming (Wait. What? There's a cliff?!? Damn.) and join Nina and Susan in their contests. I'll award one commenter a signed copy of my latest release, True Vision . Deadline to enter  is 5 p.m. Friday (July 16).

OK, here goes. Six truths and one lie. See if you can guess the lie!

1. I graduated from high school on a Friday and started college the following Monday.

2. I'm a master griller. Charcoal all the way, baby.

3. I'm addicted to gadgets. iPod, iPad, MiFi, GPS, oh my.

4. I get up early every morning and sit down to write as soon as I've had my coffee.

5.  I wear the same diamond earrings every day that I bought with part of the advance for my first book, Relative Strangers .

6.  I bought a leather jacket from Carmen in the Florence, Italy, street market.

7. A guy friend's grandma caught us skinny-dipping in her swimming pool.

I'm also supposed to point you to some blogs I really like:

Romance in the Backseat

RomCon

Socks and Barney

Pop Candy

My Book Addiction and More

ThePhotoGardenBee

Don't forget to try to spot my lie! : )

I totally planned it ...

Did you hear that Sunday marks the 50th anniversary of Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird? Why is that significant to me? I'm so glad you asked!

Not only is Mockingbird one of my favorite novels of all time, but I make a couple of references to it in my latest release, True Vision.

Charlie Trudeau, my super-empathic heroine, has a cat named Atticus. Charlie named her furry friend after Mockingbird's hero, Atticus Finch, a man who reminded her of her father when she was a kid. At one point in True Vision, when she feels her dad has let her down, she thinks this:

Her throat thickened with the familiar yearning for him to be her hero again, her Atticus Finch in To Kill a Mockingbird, the tall, handsome man who fought the good fight and protected his children from evil.
Charlie has some of the same qualities as Atticus Finch, too, in that she considers it her journalistic duty to help "the innocent, helpless and screwed" (that's how she puts it). When I read Mockingbird in high school for English class, it might have been the first time I enjoyed, and got into, my homework. I just fell in love with everything about that book: the writing, the characters, Atticus Finch.  

Just for gigs, I've included a picture of Charlie's cat Atticus. Doesn't he totally look like an Atticus? He should also look like a MacArthur, because that was his actual name. He was my bud for 15 catnip-y, purrfect years. He had the Eeyore slouch just like Charlie's Atticus. Not to mention the ability to look really, really smug, as you can tell from his mug here. :)

Hot guy in a cowboy hat

Have you seen Justified, starring Timothy Olyphant? Holy crap!!!!!

Olyphant played Ellen's boyfriend, Wes, in the second season of Damages. I thought he was a pretty hot guy then, but I wasn't hitting "pause" on the DVR. Then a friend recommended I give Justified a try -- and I always listen to my friends. :) So anyway, I tried it, and there was Timothy Olyphant in jeans and a cowboy hat ... my finger found "pause" darn quick. Never knew I had a thing for men in cowboy hats. Thought it was just tool belts. Go figure.

Turns out, Justified is a great show, too, starring intriguing characters with lots of flaws played by fabulous actors. Extremely well-written, it's a writer's dream. Bad guys have somewhat redeeming qualities, good guys have questionable hair-trigger fingers.

If you feel like checking it out, Hulu is showing a few episodes.

Other hot guys in cowboy hats: Tim McGraw. Yum. Who are your favorites?