Helens-of-Troy , #2
by Janine McCaw
Date of Publication:
October 2016
Publisher:
Supernatural Central
Cover Artist: Tom
McCaw
Genre:
Paranormal/Urban Fantasy
BLURB
NIGHTMARE ON JACEY STREET, book two in the
Helens-of-Troy series, finds matriarch Helena LaRose planning a quiet
Thanksgiving dinner with her daughter Helen and granddaughter Ellie. Uninvited
guests keep turning up at the door, and when the turkey hits the table, all
hell breaks loose
To add to the craziness, body parts are
turning up in the neighborhood. Helen gets a new job at the police station with
her mother`s ex-lover Chief Roy Cohen and Ellie gets a new job at the Topaz
with her frenemy Tara Wildman. Ryan Lachey and Tom Williams uncover secrets
from Jacey's Sumner's mysterious past.
Join the Helens and your favorite Trojans as
the hellmouth opens once again and the LaRose women are called upon to ward off
the latest terror in the sleepy little town of Troy.
NIGHTMARE ON JACEY STREET...because it's
never good when the dead are at your door.
Helen LaRose burst through the front
door of her mother Helena's home like a banshee on crack cocaine. "It's
never good when the dead arrive," she announced, removing her mohair hat
with one dramatic swoop of her hand. The static electricity in the dry winter
air immediately made her ebony tresses stick out in different directions as if
she were permanently attached to a Van de Graaf generator at a science fair.
"What on earth are you going on
about?" her mother asked. Being a trained health care professional, she
quickly gave her only daughter the once over and deduced that although Helen
might be emotionally insane, she was physically fine.
"Love the look," she teased,
approaching Helen and yanking one of the fly-away hairs from her head.
"Cut that out," Helen
snapped.
"Don't look at me like that. You
had 'I am angry' stamped on your forehead before you even came through that
door," her mother insisted.
"I told Ellie to put some salt on
the front porch steps before she left for school today so the ice would melt.
Obviously she forgot," Helen sighed. "I just wiped out on the second
step from the bottom. The result of which makes me afraid to tell you the
turkey you so desperately wanted for Thanksgiving dinner won't make the cover
of Food magazine anytime soon." She paused a moment to wipe some snow from
the back of her coat. "But I’m fine, thanks for asking."
Turning to prop the front door open
with her foot, she proceeded to drag the bird across the threshold and into the
house.
Helena did her best not to smirk.
"Well? Aren’t you going to say
anything?" Helen asked, reaching down to show off the item like it were a
showpiece on The Price is Right.
"You're right. It looks dead. You
know, if you were going to drop the bird on the ground, you could have saved us
some bucks and bought a utility grade one," her mother suggested.
Helen rolled her eyes. "I
meant," she tried to explain, "aren’t you going to say anything about
the size of the stupid bird? I told you we should have picked one up earlier in
the week, but oh no, 'wait until the middle of the week when they panic and put
them on sale', you said. Thanks for that. This monstrosity was all they had
left."
"It does seem a little
large," her mother admitted upon closer inspection of the fowl. "You
know that it's just the three of us having Thanksgiving dinner together,
right?" She could tell the sarcasm in her voice was starting to annoy her
daughter.
Helen kicked the still frozen bird in
her mother's direction. It took a couple of rolls across the hardwood floor and
landed by Helena's slippered feet.
"So, we’ll have leftovers,"
Helena shrugged. It was her way of letting Helen know she was good with the
whole situation. "I sure hope Ellie likes turkey soup."
It had been a few weeks since Helena
LaRose’s adult daughter Helen and her teenage granddaughter Ellie had moved
into her home, and she was still trying to adapt to the change. A little extra
food was the least of her troubles.
"Where is my daughter-of-doom
anyway?'' Helen asked.
"Goth-Chic said she and Jacey
Sumner were going to hang out together after school," Helena replied,
finally taking her eyes off their future dinner. She spied a disapproving
glance from Helen.
MY INTERVIEW WITH
JANINE MCCAW
How would you describe your style of writing
to someone that has never read your work?
I’m
more of a dialogue writer than a descriptive writer. There’s a lot of banter
that goes on between the characters that gives you an insight into what is
going on in their lives. They talk a lot. Like the Gilmore Girls.
What mindset or routine do you feel the need
to set when preparing to write (in general whether you are working on a project
or just free writing)?
I write
when the mood hits me for the most part, and when that fails, I find that
deadlines work. I try to get the artwork
done early so that I can stare at it when I need a little inspiration. Long
walks are also good to clear the head a bit.
Do you take your character prep to heart? Do
you nurture the growth of each character all the way through to the page? Do
you people watch to help with development? Or do you build upon your character
during story creation?
Yes. My
characters often try to write their own story and I have to reign them in a
bit. Sometimes you begin to have “Stockholm Syndrome” with characters that are
evil and need to die. Mostly though, I know who they are at the beginning of
the book and while you need to allow them some growth in their journey, their core personalities in this series at
least, remain the same.
Have you found yourself bonding with any
particular character? If so which one(s)?
The
Helens are definitely near and dear to my heart. I may or may not have been all
of them during my life.
Do you have a character that you have been
working on that you can't wait to put to paper?
In the
third book of the Helens-of-Troy series, we’re going to meet Helena’s mother,
Elaine. That ought to be a doozy. She’s having an affair with a dead King. Or
so she says.
Have you ever felt that there was something
inside of you that you couldn't control? If so what? If no what spurs you to
reach for the unexperienced?
All the
time. The older I get, the less I know. I think though, that you begin to take
things more in stride. Some things work, some things don’t, and if you’re lucky
there’s always tomorrow.
Author Info
NIGHTMARE on JACEY STREET is the third novel
completed by Janine McCaw. For the
Vancouver-based novelist it is the continuation of a dream, and the fruit of
years of working in a different creative realm.
McCaw is also currently working
on two additional books: Sisters of Mercy and Pumper.
In high demand as an insightful, humorous and
engaging guest speaker, juror and analyst for festivals and trade forums around
the country, McCaw also spent large amounts of time traveling abroad to
television markets. Writing relieved the
stress of constantly being on the road. Increasingly,
she turned her main hobby into outlines for novels, and finished fleshing out
the characters, plot and dialogue for OLIVIA’S MINE, a fictional account of a
young bride’s struggle to make a life for herself against the backdrop of the
disasters that hit Britannia Beach, British Columbia in the early 1900s. The book was released in 2006 and continues
to be sold at the British Columbia Museum of Mining.
McCaw’s deep understanding of compelling
plots, widely appealing characters, natural dialogue and strong story arcs
comes directly out of her early career in the film and television industry.
McCaw’s skills as an observer started early when her family uprooted from the
City to small town Ontario – and she became the classic fish out of water. Writing down her thoughts became an outlet as
she scribbled her way through childhood, while she also developed her
observational skills and visual eye with photography. A die-hard hockey fan, McCaw studied
Cinematography at Humber College, and was headed for a career as a cameraperson
covering professional sports when she landed an internship in a broadcasting
services company.
McCaw excelled in the television distribution
arena. She joined Thomas Howe &
Associates and moved with that company to Vancouver, where she distinguished
herself with her talent for identifying the right product for the right market,
and her people-skills in negotiating contracts. After furthering her
professional development with several high-profile Canadian entertainment companies,
she parlayed her reputation as a leading Cable Programming specialist into her
own boutique firm. Formed with a
partner, Dark Horse Ent. specialized in finding, and selling, niche Canadian
television series - entertainment, information and variety - around the Globe.
Author Links:
Givewaway
Free eBook copies of Helens-of-Troy (Book One) via
website www.janinemccaw.com
Hosted by
Presented by
No comments:
Post a Comment