Working on various horror fiction and music projects.
Music
Crickets chirping.
Movies
Forever Fifteen the Movie directed by Eva Madden, of course. Gone With the Wind, The Ghost and Mrs. Muir, Labyrinth, The Dark Crystal, Legend, Star Wars (the old ones, 'cause the new ones kinda suck) Indiana Jones, Godfather Series, Alien, The Silence of the Lambs, Raise the Red Lantern, Dracula, Blade, Takashi Miike's Audition, Matrix, X Men, Underworld, Harry Potter Series, Lord of the Rings Series, Girl With A Pearl Earring, Hannibal, The Incredibles, Iron Man, Kung Fu Panda.
Television
A Haunting, Eastwick, miscellaneous Hulu fodder
Books
READ IT OR DIE LIST:
NON FICTION
Not Buying It: My Year Without Shopping by Judith Levine
Here I thought I was the only female who hated shopping--it's a stultifyingly dull activity that is as generally horrible for the environment as it is tiresome and mindless. Judith Levine eliminates all shopping for a year except for food basics: no going out to eat, no movies, etc. She ends up paying off her over $7000 credit card bill and truly examining what it is to live simply. It's very difficult for her sometimes but her ruminations on the nature of material wants are truly thought-provoking.
--Opium, A History by Martin Booth
Fascinating, in-depth study of the opium habit (later the heroin habit) over the centuries. Describes the colorful past of Shanghai and Hong Kong, the Silk Road cities that drugs built.
--The Darwin Awards by Wendy Northcutt
Real stories of colossal morons offing themselves in uniquely stupid ways. Proves that most of the human race is quite retarded.
--god is not great by Christopher Hitchens
An athiest sheds some light on the problems inherent to all religious dogma, reveals the mass murders, rapes, and suffocations of knowledge by the thugs who operate under the banner of organized religion. If you want to hear it from a hard-hitting, eloquently spoken firebrand, this book is for you.
READ IT OR DIE: FICTION
--Naomi by Junochiro Tanazaki
A scathing farce about a spoiled brat who is never happy, yet holds her lover's attention like a human drug.
--IT by Stephen King
Horror classic about a town terrorized by an evil force that likes to dress up in a clown costume.
--The Stand by S.K.
Epic saga about the end of the world by plague. If I had written it, the world would have ended in nuclear war.
--The Shining by S.K.
Arguably King's best work ever about a boy who becomes marooned in a poltergeist-infested hotel called the Overlook.
--Complete plays of Shakepeare in paperback only $6.00!
Shakespeare is the Elizabethan percursor of the Godfather movies. Beautifully detailed "true" stories about royalty with violence and graphic horror. My favorite play is Titus Andronicus.
--Grimm's Fairy Tales
You cannot write horror without reading these. Fantastically cruel cautionary tales, incest, murder most foul, it's all in there.
--The Books of Magic Graphic Novel
Comic book journey of a young boy magician who looks suspiciously like Harry Potter (but Harry came second!) to distant worlds, the future, the past. My favorite part is when he lands on Earth in the year 12,000 or so and humanity has devolved to a bunch of pea-brained scavenger refugees.
--The Razor's Edge by W. Somerset Maugham
Maugham's a genius at dissecting his own flawed characters. It begins in Illinois, so I felt an affinity for Larry who wanted to travel the world to the chagrin of his childhood friend, Isabel. Brilliant, scathing genius.
--The Witching Hour by Anne Rice
Some bad writing, but overall a fascinating glimpse into the family history of a coven of witches who strive to create a demon baby "familiar".
--Flowers in the Attic by V.C. Andrews
Pulpy soap-operatic tale of twins who fall in love with one another when forced to spend their youth in a rich woman's attic while they are slowly poisoned to death.
--Lord of the Rings Trilogy by J.R.R. Tolkien
A grand story of what our history might have been, if only we were more noble as a race.
--The Jungle by Upton Sinclair
Disgusting true account of meat-packing in Chicago that was largely responsible for the rise of labor unions in the 20th century. Sadly, you can watch very similar practices used in the meat packing industry right now, just google "why go veg?"
--Doll's House by Henrik Ibsen (play)
Genius portrayal of a woman, Nora, whose husband proves to be a total ass in every conceivable way. This is Victorian era. He's a total ass to her and their kids, because he cannot seem to see her as a real, viable human being. Sound familiar? I hope not. Written light years before its time.
--Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
Agrarian simplicity and contentment is contrasted with fin-de-siecle wealth. Love or money? A vibrant woman is forced into a gilded cage from which she can find only one escape.
--Out: A Novel by Natsuo Kirino
A small group of Japanese women work a crappy night-shift job where they are regularly sexually harassed and paid ludicrously mediocre wages. One woman is married to an abuser whom she accidentally kills one night. The rest of the friends help hide the body. The perfect coverup job they do draws the attention of a very sick, twisted yakuza mobster. The rest is a great story, so read for yourself.
Marnie by Winston Graham
Graham is an author my friend turned me on to. He was popular in the 1960's and Marnie was made into a film around that time. Marnie is a twenty-something girl who is a self-styled con woman. She works various odd office jobs, embezzles money, and disappears, only to resurface at another job with a changed name and identity. Her "lifestyle" catches up with her and she ends up trapped in a loveless marriage to one of her former bosses, who is madly in love with her. Marnie is a great study of a flawed female character for which you will develop a true sympathy.
Heroes
Cleopatra, Ninon de l'Enclos, Cora Pearl, Caroline Letessier, Marie Duplessis, Madame Recamier, Natalie Barney, Lou Andreas-Salome, Josephine Baker
Cool self-motivated fellow authors like Debbie Macomber, Sherilyn Kenyon, Scott Sigler, and Joe Hill
Visit me at FOREVERFIFTEEN.COM
FOREVER FIFTEEN FREE VAMPIRE AUDIO NOVEL
FOREVER FIFTEEN . . . a rare offering . . . one of the only truly FREE audio books on the internet!
Forever Fifteen: the free audiobook phenomenon. Download each chapter for your personal MP3 collection or stream directly from this site. This 34 chapter, great fiction audiobook is available FREE, a whole audio novel, not a lame preview offer or a paid subscription club!
THE STORY OF FOREVER FIFTEEN
Forever Fifteen follows our heroine, Lucy Albert, who is a vampire who is eternally stuck at fifteen years old. We meet Lucy in 1980's high school as she languishes in detention hall.
Flashbacks of Lucy's background takes us back to1340's Renaissance Italy. Lucy is a normal girl who is thrown into an arranged marriage with a Florentine diplomat twice her age. She is fifteen, married, and pregnant when the bubonic plague (known historically as the Black Death) sweeps Europe, killing her family.
Shortly after being struck by tragedy, Lucy is abducted by her doctor Sebastianus, who makes her his wife, traps her in his castle, and turns her into a vampire against her will. Eventually she escapes Sebastianus as she discovers how diabolical he truly is, however, life on her own is seldom easy.
Much to her chagrin, she finds herself being cleverly seduced by a high school boy in 1980, the intrepid John Diedermayer. As she becomes more entranced with John, her new "friend" Michelle begins to pry into her past. Michelle becomes more of a stalker than a supporter as the book builds to its climax. Please enjoy!
WHAT INSPIRED ME TO WRITE FOREVER FIFTEEN A few years ago, I went through a very dark time in my life where a series of unfortunate events led to a dark depression. I am loathe to mention specifics--I guard my privacy religiously--but it involved remodeling a house in the country and a robbery where nearly everything I owned was stolen. Things got so bad that I seriously considered quitting my job, buying a plane ticket, and moving away to a foreign country where nobody knew me. They say the grass always looks greener on the other side and the place where I was felt cursed and barren. Out of circumstance, I spent many sad afternoons alone in an old, crummy house. Though I had never so much as finished a short story, not even for English class, I began writing a horror novel about a vampire named Lucia Alberti who survives the Black Death of 1348 Italy only to be abducted by an evil vampire.
Forever Fifteen is sometimes compared to the Twilight series by Stephenie Meyers. But Forever Fifteen IS NOT FOR CHILDREN because of sex and gore.. Stephenie Meyers and I are the exact same age (born in 1973) and wrote our novels around the exact same time!
I hand-wrote the novel that would become Forever Fifteen over the period of a year. I still have the original manuscript, much of it torn out of spiral notebooks and scribbled on computer paper! I converted it to text on the computer eventually. As I never expected to write a novel, I had no problem recording it with my existing home recording equipment and turning into a free podcast on iTunes.
My vampire audiobook, Forever Fifteen, was one of the first free audiobooks to reach the internet in 2006. It gained a readership larger than I had ever anticipated. To this day, I receive fan mails from people who passionately love the book on a weekly basis. The weirdest thing happened: I realized that I wanted to write more horror stories because they helped me work through my pain, fears, and troubles.
So I keep writing whenever I can squeeze in the time, even though my life is a great deal better now.
Who I'd like to meet: I'm a kitty mama! This is Kiki Danish Koneko Neko, my beautiful little girl!
If you love the novel and wish to see it become more recognized, please spread the word by recommending it to your friends or posting these banners on your website, MySpace, or Facebook.
Copy and paste the text inside the box to your MySpace profile or personal website.
WUZ GOOD ?!?! ITS YA MANZ SHOWEN LOVE LIKE I DO !!! WE GOT A BLACK LIGHT PARTY COMEN UP !!!! ITS GOEN DOWN NOV.27th @ THE V.F.W. 106 W. INDIAN TR. AURORA,IL.60506 !!! LADYS FREE 9PM-10PM , $10 @ THE DOOR , DRESS TO IMPRESS , I.D. IS A MUST !!! WE GOT SUPER LOW DRINK SPECIALS ALL NITE !!! WE PARTYEN TILL 2AM !!! SO COME ON OUT & GET YO GLOW ON !!! LETS GET OUR GROWN UP GAME ON !!! COME BY MY PAGE & HOLLA @ YA MANZ !!!
As Hallow’s Eve fin’ly draws near, be mindful, my gore-loving dear. The costume you’re stitching may be good for witching, but earthfolk may flee filled with fear.
O'YEAH !!! ITS GOEN DOWN OCT.30th @ BONO'S 2029 OGDEN AVE. LISLE,IL.60532 !!! LADYS FREE 9PM-10PM , $10 @ THE DOOR , DRESS TO IMPRESS , I.D. IS A MUST !!! WE GOT DRINK SPECIALS ALL NITE !!! WE PARTYEN TILL 2AM !!! SO COME ON OUT & LETS GET OUR GROWN UP GAME ON !!!
I TOLD YALL I HAD SOMETHEN UP MY SLEEVE !!! ITS STILL GOEN DOWN THIS FRIDAY NITE OCT.16,2009 A.-TOWN BOUND !!! SO COME ON OUT LETS GET IT IN !!! NO HATERS ALLOWED , SO KEEP IT UNDER YO HAT !!! WE GON HAVE A NICE TIME THIS FRIDAY NITE !!! SPREAD THE WORD BUT DONT TELL PEOPLE WHO YOU KNOW IS UP TO NO GOOD , FEEL ME ?!?! SO COME BY MY PAGE & GET THE INFO. GET @ ME REAL TALK , HOLLA !!!!
The Love Flow Music video is now finally out with over 120,000 views already in just 2 weeks + behind the scenes video feat JAY SEAN....Video now finally up on YOUTUBE you can view on my profile or directly at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZYjJhY5xRhY please do share the video on your myspace profile and post your comments. M.I.L.A.D BACK ON MYSPACE 4 GOOD!
A YO !!! WUZ GOOD ?!?! ITZ YA MANS STOPEN IN SHOWEN LOVE & LET'EN YOU KNOW WHATS GOEN DOWN !!! "THE JUMP OFF" OCT.9TH 2009 @ THE EAGLE CLUB 649 HILL AVE. AURORA ,IL. 60506 !!! DOORS OPEN @ 8 , LADYS FREE 8 TILL 9PM , $10 @ THE DOOR , NO HATS & I.D. REQUIRED !!! SO COME BY MY PAGE & CHECK IT OUT !!!
I didn't get the chance to tell you again how much I appreciate you taking the time to visit me at the Drury Lane Theatre with such a busy schedule you keep. I wish you could have came out to the wedding. But I hope your brothers went well before the rain too. ... will talk soon! xoxoxo
Kimberly, I love your book cover-- you made the right design call! And I downloaded Forever Fifteen last night and began reading....I'm riveting. It's a really great read!
Thanks for the welcome, Kimberly! Will definitely check out FF. --Kellyann (my MySpace name --Bethany O'Brien-- is actually the name of the heroine in Zubis Rises. My sister set it up for me. : >) Have a wonderful Wednesday!
To answer your question, Korda is my mother's maiden name and I am not sure if I am related to Micheal Korda. I would like to find out since over the years I had heard rumors that he was a cousin.
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