The Gramophone Society

I'm about to go and write the next chapter of my new book, The Gramophone Society. I've stepped out of my comfort zone for this one, and that has given me the opportunity to do some really fun research.


The book is set in a system of tunnels under a castle during World War II. Evacuees are kept there by the unscrupulous Lady of the castle; while she feeds them and educates them, all underground, she uses them as well.


Plus there's a whole side plot about her heir, Victor, and a really nasty doctor with disturbing saying scrawled all over the walls of his office.


Enter my modern anti-heroine, Julia, who finds that the stairs to the attic now lead down into those tunnels during 1939. She has problems of her own: bulimia, for one, as well as a broken home.


In order to write the book I set up a HUGE story map. 

It was a lot of fun to create and it keeps my concepts from running out the door as I nail them down.

I also had to create my castle:

and my system of tunnels:

I was stuck on my story for a bit until I found a great image for Victor. I wanted him to be beautiful but damaged. Here he is:

I had to add the facial tat and the shirt.

To further research, I went to the Edison Museum and looked at all the lovely gizmos there. It's pure analog heaven, and better than sex (sort of) for a steampunk / dieselpunk fiend like me.

Lovely old equipment from the Edison think tank

I also got my hands on two of my father-in-laws books. He was a engineer during WWII, and I got images from his Handbooks and his "Audell's New Automobile Guide." (This is a beautiful volume with a hand-tooled cover; I'm so lucky to have it!

I'm off to create the rest of this adventure. Time to get lost in the Tunnels again.

A True Kind of Love Story; Or, An Ode to Friendship

There are loads of romance novels out there, and I have enjoyed quite a few of them. Georgette Heyer, for example, is a goddess to me. A well written romance, especially if it includes humor and some nice historical touches, is a delight. I'm talking a rainy day outside, a fire within, me, the couch, and a pot of tea... and a book in my hands.

Nurse Gwen must choose between Dr. Jack or a man about town!!!!!!!!

As a woman, I find romance very important. But there is a different kind of love that is also important, nay, vital to my happiness. I mean the relationship that I have with my girlfriends, the ones I chat with on the phone, the ones who are there to hear me vent, the ones who used to listen to me sob over the end of some great romance in my life.

There are some stories out there about friendships. During the seventies, the move Julia told the story of Lilliam Helmaann's friendship during the second world war. The Turning Point looked at the friendship between two ballerinas.

In the nineties there was that great love story about two friends, The Shawshank Redemption, but naturally that was about male friendship. I'd love to see a female version of that.

I wish there were more stories like this. Friendship is sometimes seen as a background. You have the sassy friend, the supportive friend, the rebellious friend, the bitchy friend, and they're usually there to help the main character through a mystery or a love affair.

But how about the development of the actual friendship itself?

Friendships sometimes grow, like romances, over time. Friends bump heads. We quarrel, and make up. We chat. We go out. We are there for each other, no matter what.

I wish, as an author, that I had the creds to detail that relationship. The story and the importance of friends, after all, is a special thing, and it is a bit neglected.

Anyone out there writing anything about pure friendship?