The Romance Reviews

Saturday 31 July 2010

Guest blog: April Morelock

Thank you Lindsay for letting me take over your blog today. There are so many great things to talk about… but let’s see… can we make it controversial??? LOL… Heck yeah… (Lindsay, you may not realize what you’ve gotten yourself into here. LOL… Whooheee… let the games begin.)

Summer is flying along – days in the sun, swimming and hanging out with my kids …. Yeap, it’s all coming to an end and my mind turns back to the task at hand – writing that next novel (or finishing my daughter’s quilt… hmmm… which will it be?).

But as school goes back into session, my mind always goes to what might have been or what could be. Possibilities open up and all my old could-have- beens haunt me. Could have been a professor, could have been a book store manager, could have been… well, anything.

While I do love my day job (auditing computer systems is fun?? Heck yeah it is :> I know things. *insert evil laugh here*), I love to moonlight. To wax and wane about … everything. That’s what’s fun about being a writer. I get to be anyone, a top level white hacker that secretly works undercover for the government OR a quantum physicist falling in love with a sexy construction worker at the back of a Laundromat that is actually at time machine OR a sexy cop who falls in love with a jewel thief.

I get to explore it all, learn about new and interesting things and take those side trips that we only reserve for summer and holidays.
But what enthralls me and really causes me to take pause (and wonder at my own mental health) is the ventures into the human psych – The Dark Side of human nature.

I’m talking about Villains!

Is it sad I love creating them? I mean the dark, forbidden recesses of the mind are murky things to peek into. All of us have those corners, places we’re afraid to look into and explore because they might reveal the potential monsters we could be if our own brains and lives weren’t balanced.

People always joke about what it’s like to live in Stephen King’s home but in reality, all he does is dig into his own psych and pull out all the awful things that we ourselves won’t air about our own minds.

When you play with villains, you get to do that. You start asking the questions that we all ask of high profile crimes: How do you take a mother completely devoted to her children and turn her into a killer? How does a normal, everyday guy go from law abiding citizen to top ten most wanted cyber criminals?

How would one single event destroy a sane man, a scientist, and turn him into a drunk that hangs out at the local coin operated laundry, stealing lingerie?
These are all the deep, dark questions I get to ask. Sometimes they’re eternally sad; sometimes they’re revolting, sometimes you find out things about yourself you never wanted to know…

Have you ever had to look that deep? What are the scary things you’ve found. Comment below to enter my blog tour contest to win The Best Little Spin Wash in Texas, available now at http://www.loose-id.com/Best-Little-Spin-Wash-in-Texas.aspx :

Introverted, timid quantum physicist, Molly Timmons, knows her way around a twenty-first century lab; but give her a hot, sexy male capable of turning her world upside down, and she's all thumbs... Until she meets a sexy stranger at the local Spin Wash and Go.

When the lights go out, John St. James is happy to oblige the sexy scientist and fulfill her every fantasy. For a few brief hours, he can grab hold of a moment of happiness before going back to the reality of his daughter's desperate illness.
The Spin Wash has secrets that could keep them apart. Secrets that could save his daughter and make Molly's career, or destroy their relationship. Time is running out... Can they unravel the secrets, save his daughter, and their love? If a government agency has its way, time and space may separate them forever.


Remember to comment below with something scary you’ve learned about yourself. It’s okay if you know a friend of a friend who has this and you would NEVER be hiding this dark secret about yourself and your own psych like the fact that you secretly stole the last M&M from the jar or ate the last cookie at the family reunion last summer and *gasp* didn’t offer it to the kids.

How dare you??? LOL… share your worst. They can’t be as bad as mine. Mwhaaahahahahahaha…. Oops. I'll stop the evil laughing now. IF it’s uber evil, you can email me at april.morelock@gmail.com and get a free read from my short story collection :> You’ll still be entered to win.

8 comments:

Lindsay Townsend said...

Welcome, April! Congratulations on your release of BEST LITTLE SPIN WASH IN TEXAS(love the title!)

Lots of luck with your contest.

I agree about villans - sometimes you have to dig deep into yourself and it's surprises what comes out.

I'm off to your blog now to comment and confess!

Lindsay Townsend said...

Sorry - I made a mistake - I'm going to confess right here.

When I was at university I used to throw books out of the window onto the grass, retrieve them and take them home. I always got them back the same day but I hated studying in the library so those books that were on short-loan I would sneak out, read and return.


Bad, I know.

I also used to hitch hike from my digs to campus. One day everyone was miserable and it was coming up to Christmas so I bought a Xmas tree and then hid it behind a waste bin and hitched as usual. The guy who stopped was very good about the tree and carried it along as well.

R.A. Morelock said...

OMG... Lindsay, you have a very naughty side. Library books - Im in shock. LOL. Now I have to wonder at some of the other people I know -- do they have these secret confessions hiding in their closets. Did they smoke in the bathroom at school or kissed their first love outside on the playground during recess???

All very interesting questions.

Let the games begin!!!!

Savanna Kougar said...

Hi April! Wow, loved your bloggie... fun and profound at the same time.

Congratulations on the release of BEST LITTLE SPIN WASH IN TEXAS... yep, that's one of the best titles of that kind I've seen.

May you have mucho sales!

Here's a portion of a recent scene I wrote that shows my 'dark' side, inspired by acts of cruelty toward wild horses.

"I smile before I stab my fangs into the throbbing pulse of his neck. Blood spurts while I lock my jaws. Simultaneously, his every dream, his every nightmare downloads into my psyche. I am a dream thief for the sake of my world.

Twisting briefly, I tear his head off, so it hits the side of the helicopter, then bounces onto his lap. The man beside him is frozen against his seat, as if he’s been dumped in the middle of the Arctic.

I gaze at him and slowly grin, displaying my formidable fangs. He silently screams, his face so distorted I doubt his own family would recognize him. His hand searches wildly and finds the door latch. To torment him, I lean closer and glow my eyes in an imitation of a Hollywood werewolf."

Anonymous said...

Enjoyed reading the comments. the book sounds really good and I have added it to my TBR list.
I used to play tricks on other people pretending I was my twin sister. It usually made people confused and they laughed about it except for the dates we exchanged without the guys
knowing we were. They got mad.
JOYE
JWIsley(at)aol(dot)com

Unknown said...

APRIL--I'm not evil, but I am tacky sometimes. You know, just say something and you wish someone had slapped their hand over your mouth. It's not a habit--but sometimes it just slips out.
As teenagers, we drove alongside a Coke truck-back then the cokes were in bottles, and the bottles were in open wooden trays, and it was easy for one of the boys to lean out the car window and grab several.
Your blog was delightful, just what I needed at the end of a long day! I love your title--Texas girl here--and the take-off on The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas. Celia

Julia Rachel Barrett said...

Villains are often much more fun to write than heroes. In movies, I'll often cheer for the villain, not because he's a good guy, but because he's so well-played!

R.A. Morelock said...

Julia Rachel Barrett --- STep on up. You've won!!!!

Please email me your email address and I will send you your copy of Best LIttle Spin WAsh in Texas.

Congrats!

April Morelock