Dear Netflix: So, you’re getting into anime now, eh? Streaming Neon Genesis Evangelion for a new generation? How nice! Too bad you’re showing it without any of the LGBTQ elements (can’t believe … Continue reading Dear Netflix: Don’t Show “Revolutionary Girl Utena”
Hello! This month on my website, Woolaston Entertainment, I’m focusing on ebooks, both current and upcoming. The first book in my new series, Lucia and the Saints, should be available either July 6 or July 7, and I plan to release a new volume every week this month. Until then, here’s a sample of the first chapter of the first book. Enjoy!
Chapter One
Lucia Calderon
“What you must first understand, is that nothing lasts forever. None of us are immortal, and every relationship must eventually end. We are given one life that we can be certain of, and we must do the best we can with that one life.”
They stood before her; these twelve girls from all walks of life, like disciples receiving the Word. They stood in a huddle on the front lawn of the place they now called home: a sprawling New Orleans mansion. It had taken two and a half weeks to make the place livable, but working in shifts, they had managed to get the work done. The mansion had been a dilapidated mess at first sight: broken windows, peeling paint, weeds growing up the outer walls, and a lawn that was in need of serious care. And that was only the outside. Inside, there were walls that needed to be cleaned and/or painted, broken furniture that needed to be removed, floors that needed to be swept and mopped, and so on and so on. Twelve young women and the fearless leader, had rolled up their sleeves and worked together, and completely remodeled the house. The outside was painted beige with white shutters on either side of every window. Southern magnolias lined the pathway that led to the front door. The front door, was painted white, and the old doorknob was replaced with a solid brass knob, and partnered with four locks. Inside, the marble floor was cleaned and polished, and a large, round wooden table was in the center, taking up some of the space between the double staircase. Upstairs, were fifteen bedrooms, with only thirteen in use. The kitchen had all new stainless steel appliances, and marble countertops. The cabinets were white with gold knobs. The island in the center held the massive sink, with plenty of room to spare.
The local hardware and furniture stores had become accustomed to seeing them. When they weren’t picking up more paint and tools, they were picking out furniture. The grocery stores knew them, too. Their refrigerator was the last item to arrive for the house, so they didn’t have a place to keep food. Instead, they found themselves heading to the store every day, picking up items that had to be eaten the same day.
A delivery truck slowly made its way up the long driveway, towards the front of the house. The twelve girls stepped aside and watched it as it pulled up, and two men in gray coveralls climbed out. One of them was holding a clipboard, with several sheets of paper attached to it. He looked around at all of the female faces. “Lucia Calderon?”
The woman who had addressed the crowd only moments ago, stepped down from the front porch. “I’m Lucia,” she said, brushing away a lock of long brown hair that had fallen across her face. “Do you have my Fleur de Lis?”
The man with the clipboard smiled at her and nodded. “I’ve got it right here in the truck,” he said. “I just need you to sign for it.” He handed her the clipboard and a pen, and watched as she signed her name at the bottom of the top sheet of paper. She handed it back to him, and he tore off the sheet underneath, and handed it to her. The other man walked around to the rear of the truck and opened the double-doors. The girls watched in silent awe, as the two men worked together to pull an extremely large box, out of the truck, and set it upon the ground. They open the top, and began to pull away the sides of the box, revealing it’s precious cargo. It was a large Fleur de Lis, carved out of mahogany. “Here it is,” the first man said proudly, as though he had carved the symbol himself. “Five feet tall, four and a half feet wide, and solid mahogany. It was coated with a special waterproof seal, just like you asked. Where do you want it?”
Lucia turned towards the porch, and pointed to a space just beyond the steps. “Right there, if you would,” she said. The men nodded, and carefully lifted the carving, and carried it up the short flight of steps, placing it where their customer had requested. There were little sighs of admiration from the twelve girls. The men shook Lucia’s hand, gathered the sides of the box, and departed.
“It’s really amazing,” one of the girls said. “Isn’t it?”
“The picture online didn’t do it any justice,” Lucia said. “But, here it is, on our front porch. Our new symbol. From now on, ladies, we’re not just a group of women sharing a house. We’re going to help people, as best we can. From now on, we are The Saints.”
End of Preview
When I originally sat down to write the very first Valentine book, I never intended for the story to develop into a series, much less a series with five books and a spin-off series. And I never expected to created so many different characters within these books. But, here we are: nine books so far, with at least 24 different characters (and there are more books and more characters to come!). With a series as complex as Valentine, sometimes you wonder about the very beginning of the story, and often, this beginning isn’t found within the first book. While readers met Val Entienne when she was about to embark upon a dangerous journey to California to save her father, the story of Val, John Rafferty and the Syndicate itself, goes back much much further. It all begins with a woman named Lucia Milazzo.
So, who is Lucia and why is she so important? When I release the first book in my next series, Lucia and the Saints, readers are going to quickly discover, the very paths of the lives of every character in the Valentine and Valentine Apart series, can be traced back to her in some way. In fact, you can probably play a simple game of “Six Degrees of Separation” with Lucia and the other characters. Her most important connection, however, will be to John Rafferty.
A woman made you, and someday a woman will unmake you–Lucia Milazzo
Once you meet Lucia, keep an eye on her. Everything within the Syndicate exists because of her.
I’m releasing book one of Lucia and the Saints next month. Stay tuned!
I’ve been looking over my website and social media pages, and I realized, its been awhile since I updated the colors and themes. Okay, its been more than awhile…it’s been close to a year. This isn’t like me. But, between moving to another state, and starting a new day job–then a better day job–this was something I just didn’t focus on. Shame on me. But, I’m going to update everything this week. Now, the important question: what am I going to do?
In the past, I’ve experimented with colors such as purple, burgundy (or wine, if you will) and blue. I’ve even used yellow, in honor of Spring. I probably won’t do that again. I’d like to use something bright, while using a color scheme that reflects my personality (which is sometimes, a bit dark). So, if anyone reading this has any suggestions, I’d love to hear them!
I recently read an article online about Netflix’s licensing issues with adding the popular anime series, Neon Genesis Evangelion to their streaming service. While I was excited by the idea of a new generation having an opportunity to watch one of my favorite anime of all time, when I read the details of it’s release, I was a bit disappointed.
ADV Films, the studio who originally released the English-dubbed version of the series and the two films, collapsed in 2009. This is where the license issue comes into play. Netflix is unable to use the original voice cast, and instead, is using a brand new cast of voice actors. Kudos to the new actors. But, as a die hard fan of the series, I can’t imagine anyone else providing the voice of Asuka other than Tiffany Grant. And if you’ve seen The End of Evangelion , then you know no one else can do Shinji’s scream except Spike Spencer.
On top of all of this, the closing theme song, “Fly Me to the Moon”, is NOT included in the North American release on Netflix. It is included, on Netflix in Japan. So, new voice cast, no “Fly Me to the Moon”…Netflix, I’m beginning to think you shouldn’t have taken on this project in the first place. For viewers who have never watched the series, none of this will make much of a difference. But, for people like me who grew up with this show, it’s kind of a slap in the face.
Will this release be successful? Only time will tell.
PS: to any Hollywood studio out there thinking about making this series into a live-action film, DON’T. You’ll probably screw that up, too.
For anyone out there who has ever published an ebook, you know how important it is to make sure the manuscript you upload is formatted correctly. This can be–well, annoying. What looks good in whatever program you’re using to type your manuscript, may not transfer correctly, when you upload it to whichever service you decide to use to publish. For me, it’s Amazon’s KDP. At first, KDP and I didn’t get along–at all. Oil and water, I tell ya! But now we’re friends, because I finally figured out where to place my page breaks.
For the past two weeks, I have been working my way through my ebooks (and my mother’s ebooks), correcting the page breaks. I’m happy to say, I’m nearly finished. Of the 27 books published under Woolaston Entertainment, I have corrected 22 (I never published an ebook for the original Our Lady of Righteous Rage, and I’m not planning to anytime soon). I now have 4 books left, and I should have them completed by middle of next week, by June 19 (June 20, the latest). What can I say: every day is a learning experience. At first, I looked at the horribly formatted versions of the ebooks as a failure, but now I see them differently. To quote Billie Joe Armstrong from Green Day, “To do something that you feel in your heart that’s great, you need to make a lot of mistakes. Anything that’s successful is a series of mistakes”. Truer words were never spoken.
Once upon a time, a pair of college students decided they wanted to make some money. What did they do? Sell baked goods? Work in a grocery store? No! They … Continue reading Anatomy of “Her Name is Lola Vencent”
You would expect a story about a brother and sister pair who work as hitmen to be rather serious, right? They are contract killers, after all. The story is bound … Continue reading Anatomy of “Allan and Mac”
I‘m working on a series of short ebooks, titled Lucia and the Saints. This will be the second series to act as a spin-off from my Valentine series, and I’m certain readers are going to enjoy it. Here’s another little snippet from what I’m working on. Enjoy!
Lucia burst through the door, huffing and puffing with every step. She could hear John’s footsteps behind her, but she didn’t stop. She didn’t want to. It was always like this: the others looked at her, and saw a woman. A stupid female who didn’t belong in their world. She suddenly felt a hand on her shoulder. John had caught up to her. She paused, and he spun her around to face him. “Don’t say it,” Lucia said. “I don’t even want to hear it.”
“You need to stop acting like a freight train every time someone says something you don’t like,” John said, dropping his hand from her shoulder. “You can’t run over every person who pisses you off, Lucia.”
Her eyes grew wide with anger. “Did you hear what he said to me?!” she snapped. “He said I was just some dumb broad. A broad! Who the hell even uses that word anymore?!”
“I heard him,” John said, in a soothing tone. “What? You don’t think I get that kind of crap all the time?”
Lucia sighed, and put her hands on her hips.
“They look at me, they see some Irish hood,” John said. “A mick. Same thing I’ve been hearing most of my life. They don’t want me hanging around their sons, they definitely don’t want me to date their daughters. They think I’m some kind of joke. They laugh at me. But so what?”
Lucia seemed to be calming down, listening to his words.
“Their sons will get high off of my drugs,” John continued. “And their daughters will dance in my night clubs. Then we’ll see who’s laughing, won’t we?”
When the character of Allan Avery was first introduced in the Valentine series, he appeared in book number three, Queen of Hearts. By that time, I already had plans to introduce his sister, Mac … Continue reading Connections Between “Valentine” and “Valentine Apart”
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