From junior high all through high school, my best friend and I used to go to the local movie rental place and rent the worst horror movies that we could find. Being that it was a very small town in Texas, the clerk didn’t seem to mind that we were under 18, just that we had the cash. We’d go into her room and watch four slicing-dicing, demon-resurrecting horror movies in a row, stay up until dawn, and get all hopped up on sugar. Then I would go home, strung out on candy and the Candy Man.
The beginning concept of DIARIES OF AN URBAN PANTHER was what would I do if trapped in a dark alley with a shadowy beast, taking into account that I have seen this scenario over and over and over in the movies that I marinated myself with as a teenager. Would it change the way that I reacted to the situation? Would I scream or would I look for the nearest weapon? Would knowing whatnot to do help me? I don’t know how many times I’ve yelled at the main characters “Do not go up the stairs!” Would knowing never to say “I’ll be right back” somehow save my bacon?
Thus was born Violet Jordan, who didn’t grow up on horror films, but writes them. Violet is a modern woman dealing with two jobs, a mortgage, and being single in the big city. Getting chomped on in the middle of the night was not exactly in her life plans. But she reacts like most of us would react in a stressful situation, she uses what she knows, which is horror movies. Does she wish that she knew ninja fighting? Probably. But does she survive? Sort of. But at least she gets a helping hand from a very handsome stranger, if I do say so myself.
Unlike Violet, I like to keep my horror movies on the screen and not in real life. I wish that I could say that I left my horror movie binging in the past, but I haven’t. I still enjoy a good scare fest. I still enjoy the thrill of waiting to see what exactly is going to jump out of the shadows.
What about you? How would you react? Punch and run? Throw a shoe at it?
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If you would like to see how I, er… I mean Violet Jordan would react, DIARIES OF AN URBAN PANTHER (ebook version) will be available 8/30/-9/5 for 99cents at all major retailers!
Amazon, Barnes and Noble Avon Impulse
And look for what else Violet gets herself into in the second installment of Diaries coming out December 2011 from Avon Impulse.
Happy Reading!
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