The White Gates
Mario here,
This writing biz can be a real challenge. You think that once you get published, it's easy street. But noooo. Get ready for a big dose of humility and frustration. So it's a real kick when one of us hangs in there and comes back swinging.
Last Friday, our friend and all-around super-cool person,
Bonnie Ramthun, had a signing for her new young adult mystery,
The White Gates, at the classy Colfax Avenue Tattered Cover. As you can see, Bonnie had a great crowd and lots of fans.
Back to the frustration of getting published. The blog
buckfifty.org has this awesome post about a scrapbook kept by Denverite Mary E. Horlbeck back in the 1930s. Horlbeck was an aspiring romance writer and kept a record of her rejection letters (and a couple of acceptances). Check them out and you'll see that despite technology, little else has changed about getting published. These letters are real gems.
It sucked but in a very good way.I saw a vampire movie this weekend. Not
that movie, but the Swedish flick,
Let the Right One In.
Vampire Eli (played by Lina Leandersson) is one undead bloodsucker you don't want to mess with. (Spoiler alert! No fangs but we got the requisite double punctures on the throat. Also, who knew that cats were vampire protection?) It starts with slow European pacing. Sub-titles. Lingering artsy shots. Falling snow. Lots of people peeing. More falling snow. I think of Swedes as these elegant blonds but in this movie, they're low rent characters straight out of Garrison Keillor's Lake Wobegone. But once the plot got going, the vampire engine hit on all cylinders. Not teen angst but pre-teen angst. And nudity. And bloody kisses. And obnoxious teenagers dismembered and decapitated. (Those parent-teacher conferences must be a bitch.) Plus severe reactions to sunlight. All you creatures of the night, wear SPF40 or higher.