Showing posts with label Blessing or Curse. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Blessing or Curse. Show all posts

Monday, September 23, 2013

One or Both?


Having recently released the Blessing or Curse Collection, I find myself in between books. I'm promoting my current release, yet know I have Always Young to finish and complete the Always Young Trilogy, which began with Forever Young: Blessing or Curse.
Though I strayed somewhat from the thriller genre for the second of the series and made Blessing or Curse more a relationship/romance collection, the third will definitely be a one story thriller.

In the meantime, I'm tempted to start A Perfect Angel, which would be the sequel to my romantic comedy, Her Handyman, since one of the secondary characters is begging for attention. I don't blame her, since she did get a rotten deal, which needs to be rectified.

Should I work on both books now, or one at a time?

Maybe I'll try the thriller when I feel in a dark mood, and the romantic comedy when I want something light.

What about you? Have you ever worked on two books at once? Is it a good or bad idea?


Morgan Mandel
Amazon Author Page: http://amazon.com/author/morganmandel
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/morgan.mandel
Twitter: @MorganMandel
Morgan's Book Links Blog: http://morgansbooklinks.blogspot.com





Monday, January 14, 2013

I See You, But You Don't See Me

By accident I discovered I can look out my dining room window, see two blocks away, yet no one can see me looking. I know this, because I've checked outside from that distance and can't see into that window. I'm not an expert, but the reason appears to be a combination of the shrub blocking over 50% of the window, plus the way the light hits the glass.

It's kind of fun watching people walk down the street, some with their dogs, some on their way to work, some to other destinations.

This scenario fits well into mystery books in various instances. Here are some:

A person witnesses a crime, yet the criminal can't see the witness. Perhaps it was a case of looking out a window like mine, or inattentiveness by the criminal in not casing the area for bystanders, or various other factors.

Or, the reverse. A victim doesn't see the criminal, perhaps a stalker, who hides behind doorways, or hides behind cars in traffic lanes, sneaks into a house while the door is open, or uses other methods. Or, perhaps the victim is so engrossed in some other problem or event the criminal goes unnoticed.

Carrying this scenario to a different level, here are some instances between authors and readers:

An author creates a book and puts it online, or it's carried in a bookstore. Readers don't see it. Why? Perhaps an author gets caught up in having the book published and expects the literary world to rush out and get it. However, that author hasn't set up any publicity, or hired someone to do so, either through social media or other methods. Unless readers know a book is available by seeing the cover or description somewhere, or hearing about it, the author can see the book, but no one else does.

Or, in another case, a reader notices an author, purchases a book, yet no one, including the author, knows whether or not that reader enjoyed the read. The only person who knows this is the reader. If only the reader had shared the experience, either through word-of-mouth, a comment somewhere on social media, or even by going so far as to write a review, that would have made the difference. Then, the author would know the effect of the book on that reader.

Can you think of other instances? Or, perhaps you just want to agree or expand on one of mine.


Morgan's current thriller is
Forever Young: Blessing or Curse.
A 55 year old widow takes a pill to be 24 forever, but
learns that being old might not be the only way to die.

Soon, the villains and the law are after her.

In the works is a sequel to Forever Young: Blessing or Curse,
called Blessing or Curse.

Consuela's husband has Parkinson's. Would the pills help him?

Ezekial suffers from E.D. Will the pills cure his curse?

Police officer, Mike, has let himself go. His physical is coming up. Maybe the pill will help.

Dee Dee wonders if her husband is cheating. Will the pill make her more attractive? 

Sherri's washed out as a model. Can the pill reignite her career?


If you like romantic comedy, check out Her Handyman,
and be amused by the adventures of Jake, the handyman, who answers a frantic call by Zoe, the rich artist, to stop a bathroom flood in her penthouse.

Find all of Morgan Mandel's mysteries, thrillers and romances at:
http://www.morganmandel.com

Amazon Author Page:
http://amazon.com/author/morganmandel

Twitter: @MorganMandel

Monday, November 12, 2012

The Next Big Thing for Me is Blessing or Curse

I received three tag requests to participate in The Next Big Thing -- one from Jenny Milchman, who is posting today at http//www.kathleenkaskawrites.blogspot.com, another from Shonell Bacon at http://shonellbacon.com, who posted on Oct. 22, and yet another from Susan Furlong-Bolliger, at http://booksgoneviral.blogspot.com, who will do her post on Nov. 19, so I had to give in, sit down and do one of my own. 

My duties today are to answer ten burning questions, provide a link to the person(s) who tagged me, and also tag off to five other bloggers. So far, I've only found two, so I may need to tag three more victims later. The main thing is to keep The Next Big Thing going!

And the questions and answers are: 

What is your working title of your book?
Blessing or Curse 

Where did the idea come from for the book?
Forever Young: Blessing or Curse
When I began writing Forever Young: Blessing or Curse, my object was to lay the groundwork about the young pill which could revert a taker from that person’s present age to a previous one. So many characters begged for attention, I realized I couldn’t cover them all in one book. I had to yank some of them out of the manuscript and plop them into a separate book. Hence, Blessing or Curse, began.

The first novel, Forever Young: Blessing or Curse,  concentrates on the heroine, as well as the villains.
The second, Blessing or Curse, today's subject of The Next Big Thing, focuses on test market participants, as well as a bit about the bad guys.
The third, Always Young, concludes the trilogy by taking readers back to the original main character  and someone she holds dear. 

What genre does your book fall under?
Good question. This one has mixed parentage. Paranormal, since no one has invented a pill yet to take anyone back in age and hold that person there. 
It's also a Romance, because most of the stories revolve around love and relationships. 
And a Thriller, because the pill has a wide reaching affect for good or bad, and also because there are nefarious villains around.

Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie edition?

Ezekiel – Will Smith
Sherri - Nicole Kidman
Mike Walinski – Kevin James
Not sure yet about the rest of the cast

What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?
Blessing or Curse focuses on five characters from differing walks of life, nationalities, and circumstances, yet with one thing in common: they are all test market subjects of the experimental pill, Forever Young, designed to revert the user's age back to an earlier choice.

Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?
Definitely self-published, but with the help of my editor, Helen Ginger, plus my book designer,  Stephen Walker.

How long did it take you to write the first draft of this manuscript?
This has been going on for too long.(g) Actually, I started this sequel at least three or four years ago, but since much of it was part of the first book, I had to finish that one first. I’ve just about wrapped this second one up and hope to have it ready sometime in December, 2012, fingers crossed.

What other books would you compare this story to in your genre?
Forever Young: Blessing or Curse, the first book in my trilogy.
Also, the original Forever Young book and movie.
More movies: 17 Again, Young Again. I know there's more, but I can't remember them all.

Who or what inspired you to write this book?
Getting old was a big inspiration, thinking how nice it would be to be young again and stay at a younger age.

What else about your book might pique the reader’s interest?
I made a concerted effort to include different sorts of characters, with a range of nationalities and physical characteristics, to appeal to a wide audience. 

Here's something about their stories:

Desperation forces Consuela to order the Forever Young pill to cure her debilitated husband, Diego, who suffers from Parkinson’s Disease; but will the cure become a curse?

Ezekiel, an African-American male with  E.D. difficulties, sends in for the young pill to prevent his lady love, Luana, from discovering he can’t get it up. Will the pill draw her closer or drive her away?

Strawberry blonde model, Sherri’s popularity is fading with her looks. The pill can bring her fame and fortune, but what about love?

Overweight Chicago Police Officer Walinski must pass a new physical or lose his job, along with his canine partner. Will the young pill provide security, when danger lurks in the line of duty?

Downtrodden going-on-sixty housewife, Dee Dee Marshall, suspects her husband of infidelity, and will do anything to keep him, even take an experimental pill. What she really needs is self-confidence.

Now you know something about The Next Big Thing of Morgan Mandel, which I hope you'll be reading soon!!!

I'm tagging Debra St. John, who will be posting about her Next Big Thing at my blog, http://morganmandel.blogspot.com on Nov.19.

And Helen Ginger, is posting today at http://straightfromhel.blogspot.com.

           Thanks,
Morgan Mandel
http://www.morganmandel.com


Twitter at @MorganMandel
Amazon Central Page:

Excerpt & Buy Links Blog: