Tag: characters

Monday Blog: New Fiction!

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It’s July! It’s a new month! It’s time for a new theme! I’m thinking about having a dual theme, but for now, I’m going to focus on new fiction. I currently have three new books in the works (and I’m still doing research for a fourth). So, this week, I’m going to tell you about the three I’m working on. Warning: there may be some spoilers here!

Biologicals

Another side-story in the world of Our Lady of Righteous Rage is emerging. This one is all about Jon Sarconi, Amy’s adopted son. Written in the same style as Novocaine, Jon’s life is one it’s way up: his band is finally becoming serious about their music, he’s getting help from Nick and Mike, and he’s about to start his first year of college. Nothing can spoil any of that, right? Then he receives a visit from a pair of unexpected guests: his biological parents.

Jon’s parents haven’t participated in his life since he was seven. Amy and David adopted him, and after their divorce, Amy won custody of him. As far as Jon is concerned, Amy is his mother. But his birth parents (or biologicals, as he calls them) suddenly want to get back into his life. Jon can’t help but wonder why. Biologicals will be available later this month.

 

Jo Fuentes: Project Sleep

Valentine and family have moved out of New York and on with their lives. Kelly McCormick is running the Syndicate, and Jo is her left hand man (Hugo is still her right). Jo begins having strange dreams about classrooms and training sessions, which lead her to think about how she learned to become such a skillful killer. But Jo’s not the only one thinking about her skills, and the more she begins to dig, the more she finds herself in serious danger. In this fourth installment of the Valentine Apart series, Jo will finally learn who she really is…

 

Young Kelly McCormick

Everyone has to start somewhere, right? Before she was running the Syndicate, and before she became one of the most fearsome women in New York, young Kelly McCormick had to work to make a name for herself. And, being one of very few women in the business, she certainly wasn’t going to be the one to schedule meetings and make coffee for everyone else. Kelly makes bold moves to show everyone around her, why she deserves a place in the Syndicate…

I’m also doing research for the sequel to The Witch of Fulton Lane, which should be out by October (hopefully in time for Halloween!). I’ve been reading a ton of material on Witchcraft, Wicca, and Paganism, and I’ve come across some truly fascinating information I want to use in the sequel. The working title is The Age of the Daughter. I’ll tell you more about it, as I continue to work on it.

Until next week…

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A Line from “Biologicals”

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“If you’e going to call me anything, call me Bank of America, or Capital One, because apparently you think I’m a bank!”—Jon from “Biologicals”, coming soon from Woolaston Entertainment   🙂  

Monday Blog: The Boys of Our Lady

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Nick
Aidan
Rob
Mike
Jon

 

 

 

We’ve arrived at the final blog post for the month of June. To close out one of this month’s themes, this one is all about the male characters in the Our Lady of Righteous Rage series. I won’t lie: this is my favorite W.E. series, and I’ve sort of been looking forward to this post.

Our Lady follows Amy Edwards and friends as they start a business, a band, and try to keep up with both, while jumping over hurdle after hurdle. What sets this series apart from the others I’ve published so far, are the characters: they are anthropomorphic cats. However, when you’re reading the books in this series, you may find yourself completely ignoring that, and just enjoying the story. Another difference: stream of consciousness. Each chapter is narrated by a different character (think William Faulkner’s As I Lay Dying). On the surface, that may sound confusing, but I can assure you it’s not. The chapters are short, and there aren’t that many characters to keep up with. So, let’s get to the boys, shall we? (SPOILER ALERT AHEAD!)

David Sarconi: He and Amy start out as friends, then they become boyfriend and girlfriend, then they get married. And then, it all changes. David tries to be passionate about music, but he just doesn’t seem to be his thing. On top of that, he doesn’t think it should be Amy’s thing, either. He’s also Nick’s cousin, and while the two start out just fine, David changes and begins to distance himself from his cousin.

Nicolas “Nick” Lianetti: Born in Sicily and raised in Brooklyn, New York, Nick is the lead singer and primary song writer for Our Lady of Righteous Rage. Music has been his passion since he was young. His father wasn’t around very much while he was growing up, but it helped shape him into a mature and responsible young man (or cat). He’s very even-tempered; he remains calm in situations that would send any other person into a rage (such as a cheating girlfriend…).

Aidan Sirci: Okay, I’ll just say it: Aidan is my favorite male character in the series. Life knocked him down more times than not, but he just keeps getting up. He’s generally cheerful and in a good mood, cracking jokes and making sarcastic remarks. He’s Nick’s best friend, and Amy’s non-biological big brother. Tall, blond, and green-eyed, most of the band’s female fans tend to gravitate to him, even though he’s deeply in love with his wife, Dee.

Rob Zickye: He’s half Scottish and half German, and the tallest member of the band (six foot five, btw). He’s been in love with Amy since they met in high school, but the two don’t get together until later on. Rob is a self-taught drummer, and can play nearly any song by ear. He’s also my second favorite, and another character who’s father wasn’t in the picture (a common theme in this series). He’s protective of his family, especially his older brother, who happens to be bipolar.

Mike Murnsen: Mike knows his way around audio and recording equipment. He’s been helping his father at his store since he was young, and when Our Lady opens a studio, he helps them produce their first album. Later, he becomes their manager.  He’s married to one of  the founding members of  the Urban Collective, Vanessa. The two of them constantly bounce ideas off one another. Mike is quiet, but he has no problem standing up for himself, or the band.

Jon Sarconi: Amy’s adopted son. He’s actually David’s younger cousin, and the two of them adopted him shortly after they got married. After their divorce, Amy had to fight to get custody of Jon. He idolizes his mother, and wants to be a rock star, just like her. The older he gets, the more assertive he becomes.

Next week is the first week of July, so it will be time for a new theme. I’m considering running 2 again. One of them will be New Fiction: I’m working on three new books, and my mother is working on one, too! If you’re an indie author and you’d like to share what you’re working on, please contact me. I’d love to post some info about you and your work! Until next week…

A Moment Between Mother & Son

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I sighed. “Nick wants to start finalizing the tracks for the album, but I wanted to squeeze two more songs on. I just can’t seem to come up with anything worth recording.”

            “Don’t push yourself so hard, Jon,” Mom said. “You’ll come up with something; I know you will. You have no idea how extraordinary you are. You may not be able to see it, but I can.”

            I cocked an eyebrow at her. “How?”

            Mom smiled at me. “Because you’re my son,” she said, simply. “Because you’re mine. You were mine, even before you entered the world, because the universe declared it.”

This moment brought to you by “Biologicals”, coming soon from Woolaston Entertainment

Monday Blog: The Boys of Valentine & Valentine Apart

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VAL1CS
New cover of Valentine

 

When you read the Valentine series, you may be under the impression the female characters are the most important. No offense to any of my male readers, but this is actually true. However, it doesn’t mean the male characters aren’t important, because they are. For one thing, the villain of the story is John Rafferty. It seems most of the problems in both the Valentine series and the Valentine Apart series, can be traced back to him. So, let’s meet the guys, shall we?

Vincent Entienne: He’s just a man, trying to take care of his family. Working for Rafferty is dangerous work, but it pays well. Vincent’s wife leaves him without any warning, and he finds himself alone with a young daughter to raise. He makes a poor decision, which has tragic consequences, which change the course of his and his daughter’s lives forever. But he means well. He only wants what’s best for his daughter Val and his nieces, Veronica and Victoria.  

Victor Entienne: You meet him briefly in Her Name is Lola Vencent , but I wanted to mention him here, because he is important to the series. Victor is the younger brother of Vincent, and he’s Veronica and Victoria’s father. Rafferty’s nephew Damien, placed a hit on Victor on Rafferty’s behalf, when he believed Victor was trying to cheat Rafferty by withholding money. His daughters weren’t raised together, because Veronica didn’t learn of Victoria’s existence until much later on. Why Victor kept Victoria a secret, is completely unknown.

Jacob Price: He’s been working for Rafferty since he was a teenager. He used to be Vincent’s partner, until Vincent left the Syndicate (the network of criminals, hitmen, mob bosses, etc). He always seems to have his own agenda when it comes to Val: Rafferty gave him specific instructions regarding Val’s drive to L.A. in the first book, and Jacob ignored his orders. He’s supposed to keep tabs on Val, but he seems to look out for her instead. He knows a lot of people in the Syndicate, and can always find out information.

Allan Avery: A hitman for hire, who freelances. Allan is protective of his little sister Mackenzie, loves Lola Vencent, and enjoys his job. Allan has creative ways to carry-out his hits. When he spends more time around Val and her family, he becomes attached to them, and becomes protective of them as well. He is known as one of the best hitmen in the Syndicate.

Michael Aldus: He’s a liaison to the Syndicate. He arranges meetings, and hires outside contractors, when necessary.  He, much like Jacob, seems to have a hidden agenda. He’s like a glorified assistant, but he has aspirations of becoming so much more.

Lorenzo Entienne: Vincent and Victor’s father. He approaches Val and offers to take her to Italy, where the Entienne family is originally from. He comes across as a loving grandfather, but he has plans to put Val and her reputation to use.

John Rafferty: The man at the top of the Syndicate. He doesn’t care who he steps on, destroys or kills in his quest to run the entire Syndicate. He sees Val as his archenemy: she’s the first person to challenge his power, and live to tell the tale. He’s involved in several criminal enterprises, including drugs (there’s a hint to this in the first book, when Val opens a box in Rafferty’s warehouse. He’s interested in having a romantic relationship with Lola Vencent, even though she makes it very clear, it will never happen.

Next week, the boys of Fortune’s Wing, and I’ll tell you all about my trip to Virginia for a reunion with the staff of my high school’s lit-art magazine, Polaris!

 

 

Monday Blog: Celebrating Jo Fuentes

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JoFuentes_KDP

 

This month, Woolaston Entertainment is celebrating two themes: Male Character Month, and Pride Month. I’ve decided to begin with the later. This week’s blog post, is all about Jo Fuentes of the Valentine and Valentine Apart series.

Jo is the first LGBTQ character to be featured in a published Woolaston Entertainment book. She’s also W.E.’s first LGBTQ character to receive a stand-alone book, Jo Fuentes: The Black Queen. When I created Jo, I was thinking of a sort of alter-ego for Valentine.  The two of them do share a few characteristics: they’re tall, mouthy, and they don’t take any crap. Jo was never intended to be a soldier of any kind, but I had a dream about the scene in the second chapter of The Black Queen, where Jo takes out eight men in under sixty seconds. I thought, it would be cool to have a female character experience a James Bond moment, but I needed a reason. I decided, making her a Marine, would be the best reason.

Jo is a great character, because she’s a little complicated. She has a frightening set of skills, and she has no idea where she learned them. She’s gay, and proud of it. She values the friendships of the people who matter the most to her, and she’ll do anything for them.  She easily makes the transition from Marine to Hitwoman when she begins working for Kelly McCormick. And, she has a wicked sense of humor.

I’m honoring Jo, by making Jo Fuentes: The Black Queen, available for FREE, June 4-June 6. If you’ve never read it, this is a great opportunity to become acquainted with Jo, and the rest of the Valentine Apart/Valentine series.

Jo Fuentes on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Jo-Fuentes-Black-Queen-Valentine-ebook/dp/B078TNHBRF/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1528138515&sr=8-1&keywords=jo+fuentes+the+black+queen

Next week: the boys of Valentine and Valentine Apart

Monday Blog: The Ladies of “Our Lady”

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Amy
Dee
Nyda
Vanessa
Carmen
Erin
Olivia

 

Hello! Welcome to the first official blog post of the month of May! To kick off one of the two themes of the month, Female Character Month, I decided to start with the ladies of the Our Lady series. Her we go….

The Ladies of Our Lady of Righteous Rage

While there is a pretty long list of female characters in the Our Lady series, I’m going to focus on the most important ladies, who appear across nearly every book.

Amy Edwards: Amy is the lead character of the series, and she handles most of the narration.  She grew up in a single-parent home, with her two brothers and her sister. Raised in Bayside, in New York, Amy falls in love with Punk Rock when she receives a copy Green Day’s Dookie album. From there, she decides to learn to play the guitar. She and her friends start playing, and eventually form a band, Our Lady of Righteous Rage, named after a poem Amy wrote. She’s also a mother: she and ex-husband David Sarconi adopted his cousin Jon when he was little, and despite the divorce Amy and Jon are still extremely close.

Dee Seybrook: Amy’s best friend, and the wife of Our Lady’s bassist, Aidan Sirci. Dee is petite, but she has no problem standing up for herself, and refuses to be pushed around. She’s a singer, and a drummer; she discovers she has a natural talent for drumming and develops it very quickly.

Nyda Summit: Dee’s cousin, and Nick Lianetti’s wife. Nyda is soft-spoken and tall, and an artist. Photography is her passion, and she has even taken pictures of the members of Our Lady for their album covers.

Vanessa Vance: The woman with the plan. Vanessa comes up with the idea of running a business with her friends in high school. She’s the co-founder of the Urban Collective: the store she and her friends created in order to sell their books, music and artwork. Vanessa is ambitious and a handworker, and will do anything to help her business and her friends succeed.

Carmen Portez: Carmen went to school with Amy, Dee and Vanessa. She’s a talented painter, and she began selling her artwork while she was still in high school. She eventually opened her very own art studio, Portez Art Studio, where she shows her artwork, and the work of other local artists.

Erin Michaels: Erin goes from quiet girl who likes to read, to a Punk Rock/Emo chick with a passion for music. She meets the band, and begins to work for them, after a tragic experience with her family brings her and her mother to New York. She later becomes the band’s social media expert. She’s particularly fond of Amy, and thinks of her as a big sister.

Olivia Midkiff: One of Jon’s friends and a really talented drummer.  Olivia is upbeat and generally in a good mood. When Dee takes her under her wing, the two form a big sister-little sister relationship. Olivia is sometimes unsure of herself, but she’s learning to be more confident. 

 

I created all of these characters years before I wrote this series. I used bits and pieces of my personality, and my mother’s personality, when I developed them for the Our Lady series. There’s a lot of Mom in Dee and Nyda (especially Dee). Amy and Erin represent my punk rock side. One of the reasons Our Lady is written using stream of consciousness, is because I wanted to give watch character an opportunity to grow and change. You meet Amy, Dee, Nyda, Vanessa and Erin, as teens, and you get to watch them “grow up”, so to speak. And, it was important to have a female character in the lead role. Amy’s talents as a guitarist, song writer, and artist, reflect my personal belief that girls can do anything. She’s a challenge to the status quo.

If you haven’t read Our Lady of Righteous Rage, I hope you decided to pick it up and see what its all about. I think you’ll enjoy it. 

Monday Blog: Things to Come: Righteous

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OLORRBlackrose

 

Welcome back, everyone. I hope you had a great weekend. For those of you who found yourselves snowed in, I hope you found plenty to keep yourself occupied. This is the final Monday Blog for the month of March, and I wanted to share some of the things I’m working on for Righteous.

 

The band hits the road…

The hardest part about writing this particular book, is writing about the individual shows. I’ve never played a live show, so I can’t draw from my own personal experience. What I can do, is think back to every live show I’ve been to, and use the performances I’ve seen as a basis for my writing. So far, it’s really helping.

 

More than just shows…

Righteous is about more than Our Lady hitting the road and playing gigs in new cities. I want the story to focus on some of the other characters the band meets along the way (for example, Carla Caliece. You’re going to love her!).  As I have done in the past, I will include a real event or two within the story, in keeping with the time frame (2013).

 

Things get a little more personal…

One of my favorite things about the Our Lady series, is the fact that each character has some degree of personal baggage. David’s issue is his divorce from Amy. Amy’s issue is, trying to live up to the expectations placed on her as a musician and a female role model. Nick’s issue is trying to write better music, and so on. Two bands who don’t get along are touring at the same time, playing the same cities. You know there’s going to be a fight or two…

I have to write new music…

Yep, this is a story about a band, so there have to be some song lyrics here and there, right? Right. Our Lady’s music, is my music. This book, and the idea of my fictional band going on tour, means it’s time for me to break out the old notepad and pen some new songs! But it’s cool, because I enjoy it.

 

Room for one more?

Will this be the grand finale of the series? No! I’ve already started making plans to write the next book! Yeas, I’m crazy like that. Not to give too much away, but the next book may revolve around some of the music Nick is going to write while he’s on the road…

I haven’t come up with a theme for April yet, but I’m always open to suggestions! Until next week…

 

Monday Blog: Wrapping Up 2017

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Happy Holidays, everyone! Welcome to the final blog post for 2017! I hope everyone enjoys their holiday. With 2017 coming to a close, it’s time to look ahead to 2018. But first, what happened to W.E. in 2017? I published more books this year than ever before. I’m having a comic published in my high school’s newspaper,  The Bear Facts (from Bethel High in Virginia). I created a brand new story, The Witch of Fulton Lane. And, I’ve managed to use my writing to fund this website. All in all, I’d say 2017 was a great year for W.E.

 

Jon and Olivia Homecoming2.2
Jon and Olivia comic

 

The year 2018 is right around the corner. When January hits, I’m going into “beast mode”. My goal is to place more W.E. books in the hands of more readers, and start picking up some online reviews. I have plans to start a book club, which would start out with W.E. books, but would eventually expand. Our Lady of Righteous Rage is coming back, along with a side story, Dee Seybrook: Rock n’ Roll Diva.  I’d also like to dive deeper into the life of Valentine’s Jo Fuentes, by giving her another stand-alone book. Plus, merchandise! Next year, there will be some merchandise (other than the books) available on woolastonentertainment.com.  Calendars, posters, etc.

OLORR album cover

 

2017 was great, but I know 2018 will be even better. I’ll see you on the other side!

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Monday Blog: The Early Days of Woolaston Entertainment

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WE Plush Dolls
L-R: Amy, David, Dee, Neon Angel (from “Enos”) and Degenerate R

 

From 1994 to around 2005, there was more to Woolaston Entertainment than just books. There are comics and artwork now, but back then, my focus was spread more evenly. Watching a ton of magic-girl anime created the comic/series Enos, which later created Degenerate R. Plus, I drew other comics and a produced a few calendars to compliment the books I was working on. I didn’t have the money to have posters printed, so everything was drawn by hand. In fact, I even created a few plush dolls. Of course, I continued to write. I hand-wrote a ton of books, and every other year or so, I wrote a compendium, or a detailed account of all things W.E..

8th Dimension We Dont Talk
comic from “The 8th Dimension”, 1995
Enos_OriginComic_Inside
scene from original “Enos” comic, 1996

 

Comics

The comics eventually fell by the wayside, when the books took over. In the beginning, there was The 8th Dimension, my tribute to Gary Larson’s The Far Side. These were single-scene, black and white sketches (poorly drawn, I might add), which I created in 1995. Next, came my sci-fi series, Enos, which features some of the characters you may know from Our Lady of Righteous Rage. Enos concerned two races of aliens in a battle for a power known as the Neon White Flame: the power that was used to create the universe and the planets and was given to one race of aliens by Heaven itself. I completed the first comic book in 1995, and drew a few single comics over the following years, but ultimately wrote a series of books instead. There were also three other comics: Mike & Vanessa, Sarconi and Seybrook, which were featured in a 1999 calendar.

 

50 handwritten books
50 of my hand-written books

 

Hand Written Books

If you ever need proof, that the time you spent creating and drawing and being a bit of a nerd, can be useful, here it is! I started writing books for myself when I was in first grade, and I continued all the way until 2010. The only reason I stopped, is because I had finally published something (Fortune’s Wing). But all of that creative energy was not wasted. Nineteen published books and counting, with sales, positive reviews and a book signing, are proof of that. Fortune’s Wing, Valentine and Our Lady, all began as books I wrote within the pages of composition notebooks and journals. Like all of my hand written books, they had covers, spine labels, and summaries on the back.

 

Writing Goals

I’d like to go back to all of those old books and polish them, and publish them, one at a time. Some will need more work than others, but I believe it’s going to be a fun challenge. Someday, maybe I’ll publish a few comics, too!

 

Until next week…

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