Phoenix Entertainment and Development

Phoenix Entertainment and Development

Thursday, April 24, 2014

Toi Thomas Interview Part 2


Hello everyone and welcome back to the Writer's Revolution. I am your host, the author of The Phoenix Blade: Project Justice, Andrew Hess. Today I would like to welcome a returning guest, an incredible author and friend as well as one of my inspirations for interviewing authors, Toi Thomas.







Time for a little fun.

As a writer we paint a picture with our words to capture the reader’s attention and make them feel like they’re in the story watching the events unfold. Can you paint us a picture of what you’d consider a perfect day?

The bright yellow halo surrounding the sun through the tent of my sunglasses reminds me of sunflower, but I’m glad to not be in a field surrounded by them. Pulsating heat stings my skin in a delightful burn; I’ll be three shades darker when I return home today. An oily glaze of Banana Boat sizzles as I reapply, knowing it’s barely making a difference. I like going through the motions, being able to rub the contours of body while basking in the sun and receiving no judgment from passersby. They’re probably relieved to see me to perform the act, for fear of watching my flesh burn.

As a warm, soft gust glides over my legs, I turn over to let the air filter the subtle musk that’s developed between me and my towel. I enjoy the sting of the sun on my back so much; I decide to lie there a while. The hard cement below should tease and cause my muscles to ache, but I reveling the stiffness. Finally a chance to truly lie flat, but if I stay too long, I’ll feel it later. Before long, sweat beings to wash away my shield of SPF and I know it’s time to go back in. The clear, subtle-rippling water calls to me. By now my nostrils have embraced the chlorine. My heart patters again my chest in anticipation of the cool stinging contrast that waits.

Man, I do love a good day at the pool.

Which vacation spot would be best suited for you; a nice romantic getaway to an island, a sightseeing European vacation, an exhilarating ski trip to a mountain resort, or a spiritual getaway to a secluded location?

At this time in my life, I think the sightseeing European vacation would suite me. I’d enjoying tiring myself out daily with tours, resting in the afternoon, and then dining out each evening.

Any questions for me?

Thank you for having me back to the Writer’s Revolution; what made you decide to look up some of your past visitors?

I've come across some great authors over the last year and have been kind to me and the Writer's Revolution. Some had great inspirational stories (not just in their books but with their lives) while others had such a memorable book that I wanted to give them a chance to showcase them again.


Any exciting news  or developments in your life?

Besides wedding planning with my beautiful fiance, I have been putting the finishing touches on the first in my Detective Series; The Campus Killer as well as working on the re-write for the follow up to The Phoenix Blade: Project Justice which will be entitled The Phoenix Blade: Awakening

Keep up with Toi by Liking her on Facebook, Following her on Twitter and check out the ToiBox for updates on the Eternal Curse Series, blog posts and interviews
https://www.facebook.com/ToiThomasAuthor?ref=br_tf
https://twitter.com/ToiThomas
http://etoithomas.com/

I want to thank Toi Thomas for joining us this week.
And make sure you pick up your copy today on Amazon.com
http://www.amazon.com/Eternal-Curse-Toi-Thomas-ebook/dp/B00I0EB37C/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1398210078&sr=8-1&keywords=Eternal+curse

And as always, grab your copy of The Phoenix Blade: Project Justice
http://www.amazon.com/The-Phoenix-Blade-Project-Justice-ebook/dp/B00J2HG2H2/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1398210262&sr=8-1&keywords=The+Phoenix+Blade

Wednesday, April 23, 2014

Guest Post: Toi Thomas


Hello everyone and welcome back to the Writer's Revolution. I am your host, the author of The Phoenix Blade: Project Justice, Andrew Hess. Today I would like to welcome a returning guest, an incredible author and friend as well as one of my inspirations for interviewing authors, Toi Thomas.






Topics vs. Themes (part 1) by Toi Thomas

Topic: 1a subject of conversation or discussion

Theme: 2a unifying or dominant idea, motif, etc., as in a work of art
Technically these two words mean pretty much the same thing, but as you can clearly see their meanings can be slightly altered to provide more emphasis to any subject. I’m not even going to touch on subjects. What I am going to do is discuss some of the themes of my book, Eternal Curse: Giovanni’s Angel, and a few subsequent topics that following along.

The Three Major Themes of Eternal Curse
Purpose | Discovery | Faith
Purpose
Finding one’s purpose is the key to unlocking the joy of life. For when you finally know why you are here, everything else just seems to fall into place. –Toi Thomas

These are the words that constantly flowed through my head when I was writing this story. The main characters of this story are drawn together by the pursuit of something greater. My hero, Giovanni, is looking for a cure of sorts. He wants to be something he’s not. He doesn’t understand why he exists the does and wants to find understanding. Mira, my heroine, on the other had has no clue her purpose has been unfound. She is a wealthy, successful doctor about to discover that she is meant for something else entirely.

Adoption and family (more specifically, surrogate families) are a major topic within this theme. If you’ve ever met someone who’s been adopted or didn’t have a family you might be able to relate to this. The fact is that when you don’t have a family, you sometimes question who you really are and what you’re meant for. Most people have someone in their lives telling them exactly who they are until such a time arises when they are ready to decide for themselves. Orphans on the other hand know that, at some point, they were rejected by their birth family. This can be the beginning of a later identity crisis or can simply leave a person a bit self-conscious.

Now, because this story delves into the supernatural, there is a struggle between good and evil. This idea also plays heavily into the notion of one’s true purpose. Can someone born holy turn to evil? Can an abomination be made holy? What if you exist in a world you were never meant to be a part of- would you even have a purpose?

This and so much more are the kinds of ideas that inspired me and fueled the telling of this story. Please join me at the ToiBox of Words to see the continuation of this post, in my Author Insights series; I still need to touch on Discovery and Faith. Until then, please enjoy this excerpt from Eternal Curse: Giovanni’s Angel.



~
The next morning at breakfast Giovanni wasn’t there. Abraham urged Mira to go ahead and eat without him. Mira asked Abraham, “Why do you think he hasn’t come down?”
“Something must have happened. He only misses breakfast when he’s upset about something.”
Mira cleared her throat and swallowed her last bite. “He must know about me leaving, but I don’t know how he could.”
“So you’re leaving?” questioned Abraham before responding. “I suppose he couldn’t help it. Sometimes he hears the processing of our minds even when he doesn’t want to. Our thoughts, our desires, and our emotions haunt him so.” Abraham paused a moment. “When will you leave? Will you be returning?”
Mira took a deep breath and answered him softly, “I’ll leave tomorrow; the arrangements have all been made. I would love to come back, if I’m welcome.”
Abraham moved himself closer to Mira and was now sitting right next to her. He took her hand and cupped it with both of his. “You’ll always be welcome here, Mira. I think you’re wonderful and delightful, and there’s definitely something special between you and Gio. He needs you more than you know.”
“How?” asked Mira. “How could he possibly need me? I haven’t been much help to him so far. He’s so much stronger than he realizes and I’m so weak.” Mira leaned into Abraham’s shoulder and rested her head.
“That’s why he needs you, my dear,” answered Abraham. “One day I’ll be gone and Giovanni will need someone to look after, someone to tell his dreams to and to give him a purpose. He needs to feel needed by someone, and like it or not, Mira, you’re the one.”

Stay Tuned for Part 2 of our interview with Toi Thomas. In the meantime make sure you pick up your copy today on Amazon.com
http://www.amazon.com/Eternal-Curse-Toi-Thomas-ebook/dp/B00I0EB37C/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1398210078&sr=8-1&keywords=Eternal+curse

And as always, grab your copy of The Phoenix Blade: Project Justice
http://www.amazon.com/The-Phoenix-Blade-Project-Justice-ebook/dp/B00J2HG2H2/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1398210262&sr=8-1&keywords=The+Phoenix+Blade


Tuesday, April 22, 2014

Toi Thomas Interview Part 1


Hello everyone and welcome back to the Writer's Revolution. I am your host, the author of The Phoenix Blade: Project Justice, Andrew Hess. Today I would like to welcome a returning guest, an incredible author and friend as well as one of my inspirations for interviewing authors, Toi Thomas.






Welcome back to the Writer’s Revolution. I’d like to start off with a little recap for our readers and introduce you to our new ones. Tell us a little about yourself.

My name is Toi Thomas and aside from writing I also work with special needs children. I’ve been married to my husband for 9 years and we have 10 year old turtle. I enjoy cooking, painting, reading books and comics, and collecting vinyl records. I’ve been writing for about four and a half years and have been blogging for three. I enjoy reaching out to other writers to promote them and their books because I think writers are entertainers who often go unnoticed.
Since my last visit I’ve self-published two shorts outside of Eternal Curse series.
Legend of the Boy- a sci-fi tale
Unexplained- a collection of short stories

Can you give us an update on your book since you were last on the Writer’s Revolution? (How’s it been doing, any promotions coming up, book tours, any sequels in the works)




The 3rd edition of Eternal Curse: Giovanni’s Angel has been released and receiving good reviews. I gave the book a big launch on my blog and am constantly working to promote it. While time passes I’m keeping myself busy with the completed sequel, working diligently to prepare it for publication as well.
Eternal Curse (Amazon, Barnes & Noble) and is companion guide, 40 Days and Nights of Eternal Curse (Amazon, Barnes & Noble) are now both available for purchase through all the major online retailers.

Can you tell us a little about your book?

After receiving my first wave of reviews, I realize that this story is a bit of an anomaly. Though by most standards it is clearly a paranormal romance, there’s no questioning that there is definitely some genre mashing going on. It’s safe to say that this book doesn’t fit in neatly into any specific genre. Oh…and it’s not a horror tale! It seems that people are missing a chance to fall in love with Giovanni, Mira, and Abraham, my main three characters, because they think the book is too scary.
This is the story of a doctor and an outcast who meet online and discover that the world is not what it appears to be. The doctor and the outcast learn of things and beings that exist beyond scientific understanding and realize that amongst these things lies their true purpose. 
Here’s one 4 star review that should clear up some of this matter, by Ian Mathie.

What do you have in store for your readers? (upcoming books, blogs, etc)

Well, for readers of my blogs, hopefully by now everyone knows I’m consolidating. Soon The ToiBox of Words will be my home on the web. I’ll keep the Eternal Curse Series blog updated with book information, but I won’t be posting to it anymore. It will simply serve as an archive and information hub.

In terms of books, I’m hoping to complete a romance I started some time ago- a project separate from my Eternal Curse series, and a new fantasy tale. I also have a few more short stories up my sleeve I hope to share in the future, while one will appear in an anthology by the end of this year.

What has been the most interesting book you’ve read lately?

The most interesting book I’ve read lately would have to be, The Name of the Wind (The Kingkiller Chronicle, #1). It’s wonderful tale of fantasy. I look forward to reading more of the series.

Do you have any tips or advice for potential writers?


Writing works when it’s your passion. If writing isn’t your passion, don’t do it. Whether you want to become a published author or are content to pen your private life story in your personal journal, know what you want, why you want it, how you plan to achieve it.  Don’t let other people’s goals, ideas, desires, and standards be yours. If you plan to share your work with the public, be realistic and considerate of the fact that not everyone thinks the same. If you open yourself up to the public be prepared for praise, criticism, indifference, and cruelty…Write because it’s your passion. 




Tune in tomorrow for a special post from Toi Thomas herself along with a brief Excerpt from the Eternal Curse. Make sure you pick up your copy today on Amazon.com
http://www.amazon.com/Eternal-Curse-Toi-Thomas-ebook/dp/B00I0EB37C/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1398210078&sr=8-1&keywords=Eternal+curse

And as always, grab your copy of The Phoenix Blade: Project Justice
http://www.amazon.com/The-Phoenix-Blade-Project-Justice-ebook/dp/B00J2HG2H2/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1398210262&sr=8-1&keywords=The+Phoenix+Blade

Monday, April 21, 2014

Preview: Toi Thomas


Hello everyone and welcome back to the Writer's Revolution. I am your host, the author of The Phoenix Blade: Project Justice, Andrew Hess. Today I would like to welcome a returning guest, an incredible author and friend as well as one of my inspirations for interviewing authors, Toi Thomas.








Toi Thomas has been writing for the last three years and has focused on her blogs; including her Eternal Curse Series.  While her focus has been on writing, Toi has remained a big kid at heart.  She has a wide range of hobbies; including cooking, painting, and collecting. 


Author Profile:


Toinette "Toi" Thomas was born and raised in Texas where she learned to appreciate the grandeur of things in life. She was raise by her loving mother Navonia and her stepfather Dennis, along with her older sister Tori. Early in her life, Toi could understand and appreciate things that other kids her age couldn't. She understood that her family wasn't perfect, but that it was perfect for her.

Growing up, Toi was a bit of a tomboy, but was not without poise and grace. She loved to play outside, to build and break things, to dance and write, and to read. Some of her favorite books as a youngster were Horton Hears a Who, The Little Train that Could, and anything Curious George. Toi also studied dance as a child and began her love of cooking at the age of five. By the time she was in third grade, Toi could prepare a full hot breakfast on her own. It was also during these early years that her love of movies and music developed. She would scan the radio for hours trying to get a glimpse at all the different types of expression that traveled the airwaves. Her favorite movies growing up were The Wizard of Oz, The Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, and anything with Shirley Temple.

When Toi's family moved to Virginia, she was just eleven years old; soon, she would be a pre-teen and then a teenager. Toi always seemed to be very mature for her age and sometimes a little too serious to her peers, but when she wanted to, Toi could really be a lot of fun. She was known for her dancing skills whenever she would let loose at a party and as always, she was a great conversationalist, especially if the topic was movies, music, or TV.

During high school, Toi's literary interest began to expand. She started reading many classic stories such as the original stories and plays of Peter Pan, novels such as To Kill a Mocking Bird, many works of Shakespeare and Edgar Allan Poe. Also during her brief high school career, Toi ventured out and explored other interest as she worked towards an early graduation. She became involved in math and science related after school activities and took technology-based electives. She also began to feed an interest in foreign languages, taking Spanish courses and being involved in multicultural activities.
When it was time for Toi to go off to college, she and her mother managed to find an in-state school that was far enough away from home, for her to have the true college experience. She attended what is now called The University of Virginia's College at Wise. It was during this time at Uva-Wise that Toi met her future husband, Eric Thomas. As if the fact that they both had the same last name wasn't enough to bring the two together, their mutual love of food, music, comic books, and movies was. Though Toi and her husband shared many common interest, they were very much opposites, an attribute that made their union all the more special.

After seven years of marriage and a handful of career changes, Toi now works as a teacher's assistant in Virginia Beach. While Toi finds her job to be very rewarding, she never seems to let up on the other things she finds of interest in her life. Toi constantly bakes goodies and treats for friends and family, and takes the extra effort to assist with computer issues whenever she can. While Toi's love of movies will never fade, she also makes time to read a good book from time to time. Some of her more memorable recent reads include: Ender's Game, The Hunger Games Series, The Wicked Series, Night Circus, and The Gryphon Series.

It was in the fall of 2009 that Toi got the inspiration to write her first book. She was having a reoccurring dream about a gray man who wanted to be an angel. She began to write down bits and pieces of her dreams, whenever she could remember them. Soon Toi had pages and pages of notes that she decided to turn into a story. Her first novel is just one part of the whole story she plans to someday share with the world. Eternal Curse: Giovanni's Angel is Toi Thomas's début to the literary world.

Friday, April 11, 2014

Bathing & the Single Girl Review

Welcome everyone to a brand new edition of the Writer's Revolution. I am your host, the author of The Phoenix Blade, Andrew Hess. This week we have a special guest with us. She is an actress, a director, a blogger, a photographer and now an author. She is Christine Elise McCarthy. Today we're going to review her debut book Bathing & the Single Girl.






Bathing & the Single Girl is a face paced comedy about a girl named Ruby Fitzgerald, a woman who once had a short stint on a long standing TV show. Since then her life has become a hilarious string of humiliating events, a lackluster love life that sends her into awkward sexual encounters and a non prosperous acting career that has caused Ruby to struggle to keep a float with her mortgage and other expenses.

The story takes us through a nonstop banter of Ruby's life which will guarantee to cause laughter in all that reads the book. Ruby is instantly showing how she has struggled to maintain her life as she hits her mid-thirties and is forced by her friend to celebrate her own birthday in which is now defining her as middle aged. Once forced out of her comfort zone, Ruby takes us on a hilarious journey through her dating life as she encounters countless men that provide awkward funny moment after awkward funny moment.

Christine's style of writing has a great sense of comedic flare and makes the characters, their actions and the story come to life. This is a book for both men and women to read and will find laugh out loud funny. This is a must read of 2014.

Make sure you pick up your copy today on Amazon.com
http://www.amazon.com/Bathing-Single-Christine-Elise-McCarthy-ebook/dp/B00I2V2N6I/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1397224568&sr=1-1&keywords=bathing+%26+the+single+girl



That's all for this week for the Writer's Revolution. Tune in next week as we catch up with our friend and former guest Toi Thomas.

And make sure you pick up a copy of The Phoenix Blade
http://www.amazon.com/Phoenix-Blade-Project-Justice-ebook/dp/B00J2HG2H2/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1397226580&sr=1-1&keywords=the+phoenix+blade



Thursday, April 10, 2014

Christine Elise McCarthy Interview Part 2

Welcome everyone to a brand new edition of the Writer's Revolution. I am your host, the author of The Phoenix Blade, Andrew Hess. This week we have a special guest with us. She is an actress, a director, a blogger, a photographer and now an author. She is Christine Elise McCarthy





If you could only bring three items with you to a deserted island (non-writing items or people) what would they be and why?

Assuming my dogs are either already there or also banned as choices – and assuming electricity were there – an internet-connected computer because that is access to everything.  Ditto with a Kindle or iPad or something.  Music would be hard to give up, too.

Assuming no power – a harmonica (I would love to teach myself to play), something to draw on & something to draw with and, allowing that paper & pen only count as one thing, a Victrola & some vinyl?    Am I cheating?  Does drawing count as writing? 

Not at all.  A Victrola and vinyl are interesting choices that I’d find interesting just because people are so quick to jump at saying iPods or a CD player that they forget that eventually you would need to plug them in to recharge.

The world is going to end tomorrow.  How do you live out your remaining time?

Eating sushi & caviar with all the trimmings (I recently gave up seafood) & a STEAK (I gave up meat 25 years ago) with my dogs & whatever friends I could collect and drinking some great champagne & red wine – and I would want to talk to my parents & my boyfriend – as none of them live in California with me.

Someone wants to make a movie based on your life.  Who would you pick to play you?

ME!   I am an actress, after all.  But, if I had to cast someone else – Jane Lynch!  That just came to me but I am going with it.  I love it!

Jane Lynch is such a great actress. I never realized how many movies I’ve seen her in until I searched her name on IMDB.

Alive or dead, who is the one person you would want to interview and why?

Eh- my dad.  That is a lame cop-out but I haven’t spoken to my dad since I was 13 and he died when I was about 25. 

Another lame answer – Marilyn Monroe.  For every stupid reason anyone has ever said.  I have always admired her. 

Oh – hey – and if I am going to be obvious and lame – lemme add Jesus to the list.  I don’t think that needs any explanation – but I would LOVE to hear his take on modern Christians – and on our new, AMAZING Pope!

I don’t ever think any answer is lame for the simple fact that everyone has their reasons for why they’d want to talk to a specific person. On a side note; I think your third would be the most enlightening choice. I too would like to hear what he would say about modern Christians.
Okay, crystal ball time.  Where do you see yourself in 5-10 years?

Fatter & older.  I’m fighting the fatter but the older is a mutherf#@&er.   I hope I do not fall into the surgery trap – though I know why women do.   I just think it makes them all look even OLDER and so sad.  So – I am hoping I will age gracefully.

Fantasy?  I’d like to have several additional novels written, published & critically and commercially adored!  And I would like to be struggling with the woes of finding time for my award-winning career as an actress on top of my literary success!  How DOES a girl fit it all in??  J

Any questions you would like to ask me?

Are my answers just pathetic?  lol

Not at all; I think they were funny and amusing.
Any final words for our readers?

I hope you will give my book, Bathing & the Single Girl a read!  Despite the title & cover – it is not a chick book!  Trust me.  Once you crest the first 100 pages – it gets scandalous & raunchy – like the filthiest bar humor.  I promise – both men & women – you will literally laugh out loud!

Where can we find you?

For inquiries regarding publishing and subsidiary rights, please contact Lauren Abramo of Dystel & Goderich Literary Management at labramo@dystel.com.

Check out the award winning short film - www.BathingandtheSingleGirlFilm.com

Follow her on Facebook -www.facebook.com/christine.elise.mccarthy and
www.facebook.com/BathingandtheSingleGirlTheBook

Follow her on Twitter – www.twitter.com/celisemccarthy

Follow her on Pinterest – www.pinterest.com/foodpornsite

Follow her on Instagram – www.instagram.com/christineelisemccarthy

Follow her acting career – www.christineelisemccarthy.com
Follow the food porn blog – www.DDDBlog.com

Check out her photography – www.MyPinUpArt.com



Tune in tomorrow for reviews on Bathing & the Single Girl. And make sure you pickup your copy today.
Bathing & the Single Girl on Amazon.com http://www.amazon.com/Bathing-Single-Christine-Elise-McCarthy-ebook/dp/B00I2V2N6I/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1396964563&sr=8-1&keywords=bathing+%26+the+single+girl

And a copy of The Phoenix Blade Project Justice http://www.amazon.com/The-Phoenix-Blade-Project-Justice-ebook/dp/B00J2HG2H2/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1396964902&sr=8-1&keywords=The+Phoenix+Blade

Wednesday, April 9, 2014

Bathing & the Single Girl Excerpt


Welcome everyone to a brand new edition of the Writer's Revolution. I am your host, the author of The Phoenix Blade, Andrew Hess. This week we have a special guest with us. She is an actress, a director, a blogger, a photographer and now an author. She is Christine Elise McCarthy. Today we have a treat for everyone; an excerpt from Bathing & the Single Girl.





CHAPTER 1: FUNK SOUL BROTHER

I wasn’t always a man repellent. I once had several successful relationships in a row. I use the term “successful” in the sense that these relationships were of the live-in variety and had lasted five or more years each. Several. If, you know, you allow that several can mean two. Each of the men in question was sent off into the world well trained in the arts of “why you call when you are running late” and “what happens in Vegas isn’t going to happen in Vegas because you aren’t going to that asshole’s bachelor party” and other key tools required to maintain a happy pairing. Each of the men have subsequently met and married gorgeous and charming women (both European, by odd coincidence) who are ten or more years their junior. Each of the men has several children and even the late-blooming dreamer has a booming, prosperous business. In Paris. As a chef, no less. Where, though he is from Boston originally, his outrageously beautiful toddler speaks English as a second language and can order moules frites in French without feeling like a pretentious fraud.

Still, I don’t know when exactly I became defined by the fact that I never have sex but it’s safe to say that it happened. Okay, fine. Never might be an overstatement but when the periods of unwitting celibacy are measured in years and the periods of awkward, gratification-free sex are measured in weeks—I don’t think a jury of my peers would convict me in the court of hyperbole.

Anyway, I look upon these men from my past and am genuinely happy that they are happy. I was invited to their weddings. I love their wives. I swear to God. But where the fuck is my sexy European guy who is ten years my junior and who is witty and quick and makes hand-cut pasta and loves dogs and seems to live only to help facilitate my dreams, both personal and professional? I’ll tell you. 

Nowhere. European men are notorious cads who are raised in a culture that—while it teaches them to see beauty in women of all ages—teaches them to see beauty in women of all ages. That’s a problem. Think about it. Do you really want the responsibility of keeping a hot French or Italian or Spanish guy so satisfied that he has no need to engage in the affairs his culture has taught him are his due? And with these guys, they might even cheat on you with a woman older than you are. Or a woman with hairy armpits. Or an older woman with hairy armpits. That is sure to devastate any self-esteem his initial interest in you cultivated. No. You can keep your Javier Bardem, Penelope. I don’t need that shit.

I explain all this to illustrate—or maybe convince myself—that my celibacy is not the result of my having tastes too exotic or ambitious to be realized. Just gimme a dude close to my age, with a job, without a wife and hopefully carrying the same extra ten pounds that I am carrying and in the same denial I am in because, really, it is twenty pounds, who am I kidding? I have the great fortune of having always been drawn to guys my age and that has held true to this day. I see a paunch or a receding hairline or graying hair and I interpret that to mean he will not see my paunch, receding hairline and graying hairs. Spelled out like that, it is hard to miss the absurdity of such a leap of logic but fuck it. It doesn’t matter because there is no such guy in my life to forgive or by whom to be forgiven. I am the girl who never has sex with anyone at all so I can participate in any kind of ridiculous fantasy of men my age and how they think, if I feel like it.

Recently, I made a grave mistake and Wikipedia’d “middle-aged.” I’d looked the term up in an effort to comfort myself as I got ready for the birthday dinner my friends were forcing on me. I thought I’d see middle age defined as no younger than forty-five and go to—I don’t know—retirement age. I thought I’d bask for a moment, pleasantly pondering the years I had before me that could still be defined simply as adulthood—years before menopause, Viagra, Depends and Denture Grip became the topics du jour. Years before Lifetime programmers were seeing me as their target audience. This is what I found:
“Middle Age is the period of age beyond young adulthood but before the onset of old age. Various attempts have been made to define this age, which is around the third quarter of the average lifespan of human beings.

“The US Census lists middle age as including both the age categories 35 to 44 and 45 to 50, while prominent social scientist, Erik Erikson, sees it ending a little later and defines middle adulthood as between 40 and 65.

“Prominent pundit Mit Xuamerf defines middle age as ‘the period of 35 to 55.’”

What the fuck? Thirty-five? You are already middle-aged, screamed the voice in my head. That doesn’t even seem fair. You turn thirty and then, just as you are waving good-bye to your youth behind you, you turn around and bam! Slam right into middle age? Why would forty even be an important milestone anymore? You’re already middle-aged and slipping into the grave—so who cares? I wonder how old this Mit Xuamerf is. I imagine he is some snarky Asian-German (Mit Xuamerf?) Doogie Howser boy wonder type with a maturity beyond his years but without the life experience and resulting perspective of a freshman frat boy. How dare he even pretend to understand, let alone define, what middle age is? These are peoples’ lives he is playing with by cavalierly tossing thirty-five out into the ether as the beginning of the end. The fucker. I’d like to kick his ass.

To compound my sense of lost youth, my theatrical manager of five years had texted me earlier that day, awkwardly—even for a text—dropping me as a client. Something about not being “able to do anything more” for me. He seemed to feel another manager might have more luck breaking down the increasing number of doors in Hollywood that had decided I no longer warranted access beyond the velvet rope. This is a depressing enough scenario when it is just a trendy nightclub deeming you unfit. When it is access to producers, directors, casting directors or, in short, work as an actress of any kind, then this rejection has a special and profound sting. It is a sting that strikes you right in the ego, certainly, but if your ego has taken the beating mine has in the last ten or fifteen years and is already punch drunk and on the ropes, it’s the pain in the wallet that threatens to drop you to the canvas, and by “canvas,” I mean “life under a bridge living out of a shopping cart.”

So, here I found myself resentfully getting ready for a birthday dinner that had sounded like a Hellish idea even before I was aware that I had already squandered a measurable portion of my middle age. Now that I was so much closer to the grave than I had previously thought, I wanted to give up all pretenses of effort and just buy a pair of Pajama Jeans and a box of wine, curl up on the sofa and wait for my Social Security to kick in.

Stupid birthday dinner. I told my friend Eliza I was not interested in recognizing the passing of another year… another year without work, another year without a relationship and, scandalously, another year without even the most meaningless sex and now—another year down the dark side of the slope of middle age. Still, I had to make some gesture at giving a fuck so I tried on a few dresses. Horrified, I found that even my fat outfits were clinging to my mid-section like horny leg-humpers but without that exciting sexual element. Just clinging in every ugly, desperate sense of the word. Was this the result of the sudden-onset middle age of which I now counted myself a bitter victim? More likely it was a result of the all-carbs-all-the-time diet I had been on for weeks. Extended unemployment and property taxes are a brutal combination.

Fortunately, I had become rather adept at a complicated financial shell game, shuffling short-term-interest-free credit card cash advances around between my other credit cards and my checking account. Sure, this was a slippery slope and my unsecured debt was mounting at a frightful pace but, so far, I had avoided paying the exorbitant interest rates that kick in if you aren’t paying attention to dates. Still, despite my financial wizardry, I had literally found myself facing the choice between room (my mortgage) and board (fresh produce). So, I decided to embrace being part of the 99% and occupy my pantry. I was now several weeks into this self-imposed challenge to spend absolutely nothing more on groceries and, instead, eat all the food I already had taking up room in my cabinets and freezer. Initially, it was kind of an adventure in culinary imagination. Weeks into it, as my diet began to consist entirely of either brown rice or whole wheat pasta aglio olio (pasta, olive oil and garlic), my imagination was put to use imagining that I was eating something else. One might expect that I would delight in an excuse to get out, act like I was part of the 1% and add some roughage to the monotony of my diet… if only to stop my poop from looking the color of a hotdog bun. Sorry if that is TMI but an all beige diet has consequences and I don’t see any reason I should shield you from that fact. Anyway, even the promise of multi-colored foods did not improve the appeal of this forcible birthday dinner.

Disgusted, I chose the least offensive dress I’d tried and added a forgiving, long sweater to mask my thickness. My tallest heels added enough length to my silhouette that I hoped the sweater lost its stink of “over thirty, camouflaging flaws” and achieved more of an air of “hot chicks get chilly, too.” I was grasping. I knew it.

I decided I deserved a glass of wine while I prepped. It isn’t called front-loading when it is your birthday. It is called celebrating. Wine was one thing I had decided did not fall into the category of groceries. That would be uncivilized. It would also be fiscally irresponsible because this was a Bevmo five cent sale week and it would be willful and silly not to stock up when I could get two-for-one bottles of Syrah. For my birthday, I had splurged and stepped it up a bit. I bought myself a two-for-one twenty dollar bottle rather than the dirty chard I am normally restricted to in the five dollar range. I gotta say, it still feels pretty ghetto unscrewing wine, even if you know it is a twenty dollar bottle. I comforted myself by pouring a glass far deeper than the polite five and a half ounces the airport bartenders and sushi bars cheap you out with. I could afford to, after all. I still had another unopened bottle winking at me from the counter.

I literally winked back because that is just exactly how much of a lonely loser I have become. I openly flirted with a bottle of red wine. At least I didn’t talk to it. Talking is reserved for my three dogs: a French Bulldog, a pug and a Boston Terrier named, respectively: Crews, Fante and Ellroy.

“Who’s the best mommy in the world?”

“You are, Mama! You’re the best mommy!”

Yeah, that’s me, too. Both voices. Out loud. The first line is spoken in my pet voice that I use not only with my own dogs but with any dogs to whom I speak in public. I am a bit of a breed snob so I don’t just talk to any dog but if you have a pit-bull or a mastiff or any bully breed or a puppy—I use the international pet voice that dogs of all cultures recognize.
The second line is the answer to my question and uttered in a baby voice that I attribute indiscriminately to all my dogs. Don’t worry. This voice is private. I won’t walk up to you at the park and say, “Who’s a good dog?” in the pet voice to your American Bulldog and then be presumptuous enough to put a voice—and words—into his mouth. And, frankly, I know the baby voice I use is kinda crazy. Come on. I do possess some degree of self-awareness.

Wine soothing my crankiness, I began to address my hair. Just because this is how my life works these days, when I plugged in the blow dryer, the socket spit sparks and smoke out at me and the bathroom went dark. Jesus Christ, I thought. I fumbled my way through the blackness to the circuit breakers and flipped my way back to illumination. Again in the bathroom, I tried the dryer once more. This time the outlet made no objection to penetration but the dryer was dead. I threw a dirty look at the heavens and cursed whatever God there might be for forsaking me yet again. If this dryer still worked, I’d take a bath with it right now and end this bullshit nightmare of a life, I thought. That might sound melodramatic but, over the last several months, some sort of slow-burn mutiny had been going on in my house. My last working television was a thirteen-inch, tubed number with a growing neon-green, blown-out area in the lower left corner. The DVD player hooked up to it had frozen a few days ago, jealously clutching the last disc of the last season of The Wire. Unable to coax the machine open, I’d had to tell Netflix I’d never received it. Last week my dishwasher hemorrhaged soapy, grey water onto my kitchen floor and shuddered its final cycle to an end, just as dinner guests knocked on my door. Yesterday, I’d accidentally hooked a toe in a small L-shaped tear in my duvet and tore the thinning, cotton fabric irreparably. My comforter now straddled my bed naked and ashamed, safety-pinned corner spitting down into the room every time I moved in the night. Today, the light in my refrigerator blew and I couldn’t figure out how to replace the bulb. That was somewhat of a blessing, however, because at least it kept me from being able to see the growing, frosty ice patch on the back wall between the second and third shelves. Ice isn’t supposed to formulate inside the non-freezer section of a Sub Zero. Its existence there is a dark promise that this item, too, is about to join the ranks of the stainless steel tombstones of functionless appliances in my kitchen. A month ago, the last time I’d had an audition, my printer decided to give up the ghost before I could print out the material I needed to take with me on the appointment. Among the other items in my house on strike or retired permanently are: my three-hole punch, my landline telephone, my Dualit toaster, the dishwasher, the knob on my underwear drawer (which is packed so tight with shit I’ll never wear again, it is nearly impossible to pry open), my doorbell, the zippers on every pillow and dog bed on the premises (because one of my dogs has a powerful zipper-chewing fetish), my showerhead and the drain in my tub, one of the little legs on my wireless keyboard and the CD player in my truck. And now, my hair dryer. Just another “fuck you” from the universe at yet another unbelievably inconvenient moment. The hair dryer bummed me out particularly because it was a really expensive one that I had been given for free at a celebrity swag event, an event I’d been shameless enough to scam my way into. Sure, I’d had to explain to all the vendors who it was I used to be and that was humiliating, and then I had to pose for a photograph holding each of the free items I was given but I got to go home with a huge gym bag full of stuff I could no longer afford to buy for myself. Important things like an old-time popcorn popper, a hundred dollar aromatherapy candle, some hideous jewelry, a handmade, knobby scarf, a dog-friendly cap for water bottles, a pen that could translate whatever you wrote down and then say whatever you’d written out loud in one of five languages, sunglasses with a built-in Bluetooth device and a remote-operated, flying, Mylar fish. These things were the only barrier left in my life between me and an absolute crisis of self-worth. I’d gotten them for free, after all. Because somebody had been convinced, if even for just a few moments, that I was the kind of person you wanted your customers to see using your product. More likely, they had no idea who I was but were afraid of admitting that and of potentially offending an actual celebrity. I preferred to let these useless freebies serve as proof that I was still relevant, a style-maker and not just a hustler out there snagging items meant for the likes of the Kardashians and the casts of all forty Law and Order and CSI series.

I looked ruefully at the deceased appliance and then tossed it, with a little more anger than was warranted, into the trash can. I looked at my reflection in the mirror, sighed deeply, tied my wet hair back at the nape of my neck and donned a hat. What other choice did I have? Air-drying my shapeless cut into an uncontrolled fright wig? No. I then had a twenty-minute struggle to get my liner on straight using a mini-sized, free sample, designer eyeliner I’d gotten at the mall. I poured another glass of wine for myself. Sometime over the years, my eyelids decided they were afraid of heights or something and began creeping lower and lower until it was almost impossible to use wet liner and not have a matching line transfer appear where I used to have a crease. Gravity is a motherfucker, man, and that pinky-sized applicator wasn’t helping the matter. Still, I insist on some standards and the hat and sweater were concessions enough to defeat so I applied and reapplied the liner until it was perfect.

Having come to half-hearted terms with my reflection, I said good-bye to my dogs (the kids) and got into the car to drive my fat ass to the damn birthday dinner. The restaurant they chose was a newish, hipster joint on Hollywood Boulevard. My friend Maxine had insisted that being seen in a local hotspot would be good for my career. As an actress, few things are more uncomfortable and demoralizing than well-wishing industry outsiders giving clueless advice.

“Do you have an agent?” asked in that mildly accusing tone that your dental hygienist uses when they ask if you have been flossing regularly and they are pretty sure you haven’t been.

Um—yeah. I’ve been a professional actress for twenty years. You’d think they would know that, for sure, I’d already thought of getting an agent.

“You know what you should do? Write and produce a really cool indie movie and direct it and star in it and then do the festival circuit then parlay that into an edgy HBO series like that Lena Dunham did. Or into a show like Friends. I hear those guys got a million dollars an episode!”

You would be amazed at how often some version of that is run past me as a realistic resolution to my immediate financial concerns. Why didn’t I think of being the highest paid actor on TV? It’s such an obvious solution, now that you mention it! They make suggestions like that and then look at me waiting for some kind of V8 moment while I struggle not to respond with physical violence.

Maxine felt that “being seen” at Pho Bich Nga (spoken out loud at your own risk)—the new Soul Food-Pacific Rim fusion restaurant/night club rumored to be owned by, among others, Dennis Rodman, Sharon Osborne, Mickey Rourke, William Hung, Andy Dick and some Maxim cover girl—was going to restore me to my former glory, B-list though it might have been. I rejected this idea as completely as a hoarder fights minimalism. I argued that publicly celebrating my advancing putrescence in a room full of working, twenty-year-old actresses and moronic reality stars was not only going to do nothing to help my career but was also likely to render me suicidal. Worse yet, Maxine had informed me that our reservation choice was either 5:30 PM or 9:30 PM. Most of my friends have real jobs and real lives and would be unable to make the 5:30 PM reservation. I, on the other hand—having no real life—have usually had my first glass of wine at 5 PM, eaten by 6, am half in the bag by 7 and curled up in bed with a book or a movie by 8 PM. A 9:30 dinner for me feels like setting the alarm at 3 AM to get up for breakfast. Just craziness. I expressed this to Maxine who laughed it off like I must be joking. This had the effect of making me feel even older than I already did and that pissed me off.

“Fine, Maxine! This dinner sounds like grinding broken glass into my eyeballs. But if making me feel really old and rubbing my face in my unemployment is your idea of a great way for us to spend my birthday, then fine!”

“Yay! I win!”

She actually said that. “Yay, I win!” So you can see what I was up against.

I pulled up to Pho Bich Nga and a valet waved me into the parking lot. Why do they have valets at restaurants with parking lots? I mean seriously. I have to spend ten dollars and tip a guy on top of that so he can move my car eight feet, change all the settings on my seat and steering wheel and steal my meter change? Fucking bullshit.

Another valet took a look at my seven-year-old Explorer and gestured that I should roll my window down, which I did. He was a giant Mexican badass, right off the set of Oz. He looked me in the eye for a count of several seconds, blinked a few times as if there was something I was supposed to say and then he asked me if I had a reservation. I assured him I did as I felt a flush of heat in my cheeks.

“A reservation at Pho Bich Nga?” he pressed, scrutinizing me like a poker competitor looking for tells.
Hearing “Pho Bich Nga” spoken out loud by a suspicious, fifty-year-old Mexican ex-con cheered me up. I laughed and said, “Yes. I know. I’m no happier about it than you are.”

Resigned, he reached for my door without clearing his expression of evident distaste from my view. What? Like his bottom line is impacted by old ladies being allowed to mingle with the beautiful people? I chose to ignore his editorializing. Instead, I eyed my cup holder in the console brimming with quarters and realized there was nothing I could do about them out there in the open now—what with the border patrol breathing down my neck and looking for any excuse to turn me back. A man with this level of self-importance couldn’t be a meter change thief and still feel superior, could he? Well, it was in Fate’s hands now.

I grabbed my purse and threw my interrogator a smile intended to charm him into realizing we were pals. It was my best “Oh, you know you like me and even if you didn’t know it before you know it now because I am irresistible” smile. He took it in and made me hold it until it twitched. Once he saw the crack in my veneer, he tipped his head and looked at me like I had just blamed a fart on the family dog.

“There goes your three dollar tip. Wanna keep going and whittle it down to one?”
I thought these things rather than uttering them aloud. I didn’t know where this guy got his balls but, wherever it was, he’d gotten his money’s worth. I felt like I owed him an apology or something but I was so baffled as to why, I couldn’t begin to form a sentence. I muttered some guttural gibberish and added a short laugh like I’d imparted a witty riposte.

“That will be twenty dollars,” Danny Trejo said, without even pretending to crack a polite smile.

“Twenty dollars?” I gasped before I could stop myself.

Danny Trejo didn’t actually roll his eyes, but his face made some just-perceptible adjustments that implied he and I had had this exact conversation forty thousand times already and he was in no mood to have it again.

I was pretty sure I didn’t have twenty dollars in cash.

“And I pay you now?”

“If you don’t mind,” he replied. He said it almost without inflection but it still sounded like a threat. Prison must be a terrifying place, I found myself reflecting.

I took out my wallet and found sixteen dollars there. Danny Trejo watched me count the money. He saw that I was short. Without looking up at him, I reached back into my meter change cup and counted out four dollars in quarters. Actually, it was three-seventy-five in quarters, two dimes and a nickel. I held my twenty dollars out, coins cradled in the bills, to the valet. The headlights of an incoming car swept over me and stopped like stage lights on my extended hands. I knew that my body language and cupped hands full of money made me look like I was in the act of begging from Danny Trejo. I thought for a moment about how much I hated Maxine for dragging me out here to this for what was sure to be only the first in a long night of similar humiliations.


Danny Trejo took my money and dropped it into a basket on his valet stand without bothering to count it. He ripped a parking stub and handed me my claim check. I stood staring up at him, waiting for some blessing, some absolution or something. I had to settle for what he gave me which was simply a quick jerk of his head, meant to flick me out of his eyesight.



Make sure you pickup your copy of Bathing & the Single Girl on Amazon.com http://www.amazon.com/Bathing-Single-Christine-Elise-McCarthy-ebook/dp/B00I2V2N6I/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1396964563&sr=8-1&keywords=bathing+%26+the+single+girl

And a copy of The Phoenix Blade Project Justice http://www.amazon.com/The-Phoenix-Blade-Project-Justice-ebook/dp/B00J2HG2H2/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1396964902&sr=8-1&keywords=The+Phoenix+Blade

Tuesday, April 8, 2014

Christine Elise McCarthy Interview Part 1

Welcome everyone to a brand new edition of the Writer's Revolution. I am your host, the author of The Phoenix Blade, Andrew Hess. This week we have a special guest with us. She is an actress, a director, a blogger, a photographer and now an author. She is Christine Elise McCarthy




Tell me a little about yourself.

I am originally from Boston but I have lived in Hollywood for the last 30 years.  I have been acting professionally for 25 years and am recognized primarily for my roles as U4EA-popping bad girl, Emily Valentine, on Beverly Hills, 90210, as Harper Tracy on ER, and as Kyle, the gal who killed Chucky in Child’s Play 2.  I have also appeared in recurring roles on China Beach, In the Heat of the Night, and Tell Me You Love Me.  Among my other film roles are Abel Ferrara’s Body Snatchers and two films starring Viggo Mortensen: Vanishing Point and Boiling Point. 

As a writer, I have written three episodes of Beverly Hills, 90210 as well as characters and storylines for the series, a pilot that was optioned by Aaron Spelling, and comical true-life essays that I performed at the Upright Citizens Brigade and Naked Angels theaters in LA.  I also maintain an irreverent food porn blog called www.DelightfulDeliciousDelovely.com  for which I provide recipes, photographs and sometimes share the details of the triumphs and, more frequently, the humiliations of my life. I also have a great passion for photography (www.MyPinUpArt.com) and I have shown my pin-up and decaying Americana imagery in the United States & Paris.  I have been on the selection committee of Michigan’s Waterfront Film Festival since its inception in 1999, I am co-director of the Victoria Texas Independent Film Festival, I program for the Self-Medicated Film Festival and The Lady Filmmakers Film Festival, and consult & judge for many others.  My directorial debut, Bathing & the Single Girl, was accepted into over 100 film festivals and won 20 awards. 

Bathing & the Single Girl, inspired by the short film, is my debut novel.

Wow, that’s one impressive resume. I remember watching 90210 growing up and thinking Emily was an awesome character that helped bring along some of the other casts characters. But with such an impressive acting resume, what inspired you to start writing?

I have always aspired to be a novelist & have always been an avid reader.  The success of my short film built my confidence that I could tell a story – about almost anything – and make it funny.  So – that is what I set out to do – to write the funniest novel ever written!   I wasn’t trying to change the world or make people think.  I just wanted to make people laugh – out loud – as often as possible.

There’s nothing better than a good laugh or making others laugh. My grandfather used to tell us; you should always start your day off with a laugh because then you’ll start your day off in a good mood.

Now I’m very interested to hear more about your novel: Bathing & the Single Girl. Can you tell us more about it?


BATHING & THE SINGLE GIRL is my smutty, mercilessly irreverent and laugh-out-loud funny debut novel.  Inspired by my one-woman short film of the same name, it’s the kind of novel Jonathan Ames might write if he’d dropped out of college and had been working as an actress in Hollywood for the last 20 years.  At least – I hope!

The book is summarized as follows:  The life of an actress in LA isn’t all glamour, money, and bedding rock stars.  Sometimes it’s more about humiliation, red wine hangovers, and the bad decisions they fuel.  Ruby Fitzgerald has barely worked in years, not that anyone remembers her for anything but her short stint on a long-canceled but iconic TV show.  But that was back when her career prospects seemed on the upswing -- longer ago than Ruby cares to admit, and awkward sex with regrettable partners is doing nothing to take the edge off. Everything once functional in her house is going on strike, but the unemployment checks barely cover the mortgage, and a self-respecting girl needs to be able to pay her bar tab -- so repairs are on hold.  One more bubble bath and a few more cocktails.  A gal can always get responsible tomorrow.

With everything mounting against her, a cranky and increasingly despairing Ruby will have to find out if her life’s larger indignities are the result of bad luck, or a chronically bad attitude.  What follows is a walking tour of the hilarious depths you can sink to if you stop exercising your best judgment.

This sounds like a great story and am looking forward to diving into it. In the meantime, can you tell us more about Ruby? What makes her unique?

Ruby Fitzgerald is a bit of a cranky miscreant.  She isn’t unique in her disappointing career as a struggling actress in Los Angeles – but her level of self-involvement keeps her from realizing that.  She distracts herself from the slings & arrows of life with a steady stream of wine & a nearly steady stream of criminally underwhelming romantic encounters.   The marginal success of her past acting career remains the carrot that keeps her on the treadmill – continually striving to fulfill her dream of being respected as an actress.  In the meantime, she faces humiliation after hilarious humiliation – whether they result from ill-advised & wince-worthy sexual encounters or degrading professional opportunities.    The question is – will Ruby succeed or will she have to take her place in mediocrity, like so many other aspiring actors before her? 

Ruby sounds like quite a character. I think there are many struggling in the business that can relate to doing anything to find a way to make it in the business but I feel Ruby will have us enjoying the trip along the way.

So tell our readers what inspired you to write this novel?

The short film (of the same name) was so well received (screening at over 100 festivals) that it built my confidence as a humor writer.  Every question & answer session in which I participated at these fests had someone in the audience inquiring if I did stand up – or if the stories in the film were true.   Then someone just said it.  They said, “You should turn that into a novel!”  Incredibly, that suggestion immediately resonated & I knew exactly how I could turn a 2k word short into a 115K word novel – so – I set about getting it done.

Now we briefly touched on some of your other writing in the past; such as your food porn blog and writing for 90210. I’d like to just go into that a little more.

Can you explain to our readers that might not know what a food porn blog is?

Food porn is just a provocative short hand for the glorification – fetishizing, even – of preparing, presenting  & serving food.   Food porn consists of food lovingly composed & lushly photographed.  The recipes themselves can often be decadent & might coyly suggest that the foods are substitutes for sex – the way lots of women’s fiction represents chocolate.  It is a playful term for a serious business – EATING!

How different is it to write for TV as opposed to writing a novel?

I wrote for the original 90210 but that is a very structured writing environment – as characters & stories are all pretty well-defined when they ask you to write an episode.  All serial TV is that way.  As a guest writer on a show, your job is really just filling in dialogue & bringing their outline to life logically.  Being a staff writer for TV means a lot more creative input but I have never yet been on staff.  Beyond my short, the only writing I have done is for my food porn blog – www.DelightfulDeliciousDelovely.com

The novel – the first draft – was written stream of consciousness-style.  I drew up no outline.  I didn’t know what the next chapter would bring – let alone have an ending in mind.  I just sat down every day, after the gym, and wrote until 5pm – or until I felt I had come to a natural stopping place.  I usually tried never to stop writing without having some idea of where I would be starting the next day – in an effort to avoid a block.  The first draft took eight weeks precisely, I think, because it was so free form & without constraints or expectations.  The final version is about 50% different from the first draft so, clearly, the first draft was far from perfect but I just had to pound it out & get something “done” before I could begin to look at it critically.

I enjoy both kinds of writing.  They both have their pressures & freedoms & their own rewards.  Seeing a produced episode of TV & hearing actors say your words is thrilling & TV writing is a union job which has other important rewards.  But writing the novel provided a total aesthetic freedom – both as to content & work ethic – that I also very much appreciate.  Doing both in tandem would be heaven.

Who is your greatest writing inspiration?

I am a huge fan of Charles Bukowski.  I have always been impressed at how well he combined grit & honesty with humor & sentimentality.  He is often mistaken as a vulgar novelist but the man was a poet first and his is the only poetry I have ever enjoyed.

Also, actor Frank John Hughes is a friend of mine.  He is an inspiration to me as a writer because 1) I love his writing and 2) he just writes!  And writes and writes.  He writes screenplays & poems & short stories – whatever -  and just fetishizes the act of writing so much as the Godhead of all art - he bleeds writing.  He makes writing sound so noble & warrior-like & divine & so important – it is hard not to want to get right to it & earn your place in the heavens with other great writers.  He makes grinding it out, alone, in front of a computer – unpublished, unread, unrecognized – sound fucking exciting & saint-like.  And, I think you have to approach writing from that place – that place of “I simply MUST write and keep writing” – to do it with any happiness and authenticity because most authors will never get read – or achieve commercial success.  So – you must write for yourself first.  My boyfriend, Miles Miller, is a writer-director and he, too, has a work ethic like Frank John Hughes & will hole up & write just because he loves it – but he approaches it from a quieter place – maybe a bit less confrontationally than Frank’s attitude.  But they are both prolific & write to keep their souls from withering.  I admire that very much.  For me – these men are true artists – and they take their art very seriously.  That has also been an important lesson for me – to take myself seriously as an artist (as they do) & not dismiss anything I do as crap or “less than” or something to be sort of – presented wincingly – or apologized for.  I am very proud of the book and despite the fact that is churlish & vulgar at times – I feel it is very well written & I hope that the humor & vulgarity come across as intelligently as I intended them to.  Real life can be ugly & drag you through the gutter just as some of the funniest comedy can – but that doesn’t mean stories about those elements of life deserve less respect. 

I had better shut up now.   I wrote a book full of raunchy sex jokes & scatological humor.  I don’t want to sound too highfalutin, here!



Stay Tuned for part 2 of my interview with Christine Elise McCarthy and in the meantime, pickup your copy of Bathing & the Single Girl on Amazon.com http://www.amazon.com/Bathing-Single-Christine-Elise-McCarthy-ebook/dp/B00I2V2N6I/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1396964563&sr=8-1&keywords=bathing+%26+the+single+girl

And a copy of The Phoenix Blade Project Justice http://www.amazon.com/The-Phoenix-Blade-Project-Justice-ebook/dp/B00J2HG2H2/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1396964902&sr=8-1&keywords=The+Phoenix+Blade

Monday, April 7, 2014

Preview: Christine Elise McCarthy


Welcome everyone to a brand new edition of the Writer's Revolution. I am your host, the author of The Phoenix Blade, Andrew Hess. This week we have a special guest with us. She is an actress, a director, a blogger, a photographer and now an author. She is Christine Elise McCarthy






Originally from Boston but has resided in Hollywood for the last 30 years.  Christine has been acting professionally for 25 years and am recognized primarily for her roles as U4EA-popping bad girl, Emily Valentine, on Beverly Hills, 90210, as Harper Tracy on ER, and as Kyle, the gal who killed Chucky in Child’s Play 2.  She has also appeared in recurring roles on China Beach, In the Heat of the Night, and Tell Me You Love Me.  Among my other film roles are Abel Ferrara’s Body Snatchers and two films starring Viggo Mortensen: Vanishing Point and Boiling Point. 

As a writer, Christine has written three episodes of Beverly Hills, 90210 as well as characters and storylines for the series, a pilot that was optioned by Aaron Spelling, and comical true-life essays that she performed at the Upright Citizens Brigade and Naked Angels theaters in LA.  Christine also maintains an irreverent food porn blog called www.DelightfulDeliciousDelovely.com  for which she provides recipes, photographs and sometimes share the details of the triumphs and, more frequently, the humiliations of my life.  Christine also has a great passion for photography (www.MyPinUpArt.com) and has shown a pin-up and decaying Americana imagery in the United States & Paris.

 Christine has been on the selection committee of Michigan’s Waterfront Film Festival since its inception in 1999, is a co-director of the Victoria Texas Independent Film Festival, programs for the Self-Medicated Film Festival and The Lady Filmmakers Film Festival, and consult & judge for many others.  Her directorial debut, Bathing & the Single Girl, was accepted into over 100 film festivals and won 20 awards. 

Stay tuned all week to find out more about Christine as we walk through her book Bathing & the Single Girl which can be found @Amazon.com
http://www.amazon.com/Bathing-Single-Christine-Elise-McCarthy-ebook/dp/B00I2V2N6I/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1396877692&sr=8-1&keywords=bathing+%26+the+single+girl

Thursday, April 3, 2014

Adra Young Interview Part 2

Welcome everyone to a brand new edition of the Writer's Revolution. I am your host, the author of The Phoenix Blade, Andrew Hess. Today I want to bring you an update on one of our previous guests, Adra Young.




Time for a little fun.
As a writer we paint a picture with our words to capture the reader’s attention and make them feel like they’re in the story watching the events unfold. Can you paint us a picture of what you’d consider a perfect day? 

A perfect day for me is when my student’s at school understand the lesson I’m teaching and they shout out 100 times “Miss Young…I got it.” Despite of the fact that I have told them that I am proud of them and that they don’t have to shout it out anymore.  Lastly today, I attended a professional development today for teachers.  One of the instructors came up to me and said, “Ms. Young, I just want to introduce myself to you. I am following what you’re doing with your books on Facebook.”  You have no idea what a comment like that can do for an independent author’s morale.   The simple moments in life are what I define as a perfect day.

Which vacation spot would be best suited for you; a nice romantic getaway to an island, a sightseeing European vacation, an exhilarating ski trip to a mountain resort, or a spiritual getaway to a secluded location?  

Andrew…I must see Spain.  I am going to make it happen.  I just renewed my passport.

Any questions for me? 

Yes Andrew, how are you doing?   Remember Andrew, all obstacles in ones’ life make us stronger.  What are your plans for the summer of 2014?  After-all this winter of 2014 has demonstrated its seasonal capability to its fullest potential. 



As of the moment I am in the midst of planning a wedding with my incredible fiancé while working on getting the sequel to The Phoenix Blade out along with my first detective novel.


Where can our readers find you?  

Readers can find me on www.ardannyl.me, Google, LinkedIn , Twitter,  Facebook, Instagram, Wordpress.com, and the trailers for both my e-book The Misfits and my forth coming Cooks and Books segment on Urban Nation Radio are listed below. 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lDEbDDOt06I  Trailer for the Misfits

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AD2khXTleEE  Trailer for the Cooks & Books Show