It’s Prom Season

by  Julie Prestsater

After the success of House of Dark Shadows, MGM greenlit a sequel Curse of Dark Shadows. By the time production near, the soap series was canceled by ABC and actor Jonathan Frid didn’t want to return as fear of being typecast. Therefore, the co-writer and director Dan Curtis (creator of Dark Shadows) changed the title to Night of Dark Shadows and focused the main character onto Quentin Collins (played by David Selby), whom was absent from the previous film. This time the plot didn’t involve vampires, but returned to Dark Shadows original theme of ghosts.

    Quentin Collins along with his wife Tracy (played by Kate Jackson) arrives at their newly-inherited estate, Collinwood, as most of the Collins were killed in the previous film. Actress Grayson Hall returns, but she’s playing a new role as the housekeeper Carlotta Drake. The couple is introduced to her and the caretaker Gerard Stiles. There is no mentioned of the events that happened in House of Dark Shadows.

    The couple’s novelists’ friends Alex and Claire Jenkins (Played by returning actors John Karlen and Nancy Barrett, but in different roles.) move into the small cottage that is located on the estate. Quentin soon has weird and realistic dreams about his ancestor Charles Collins, who had an affair with Angelique (Once again played by actress Lara Parker.). Upon hearing about his dreams, Carlotta tells him that she is the reincarnation of Sarah Castle, a girl who once lived at Collinwood, and that he is the reincarnation of Charles Collins. Charles had a passionate affair with his brother’s wife, Angelique. Because of their actions, Angelique was hanged and Charles was buried alive in her crypt.

How do I come up with plots? Well, my plots kind of develop themselves…

The LEGACY characters first appeared as secondary characters in my book, THE BODYGUARD. Marly O'Shea was such an intriguing secondary character, I had to tell her story, so I wrote PICTURE PERFECT LEGACY.

Wherever Marly is, her seven overly protective brothers are nearby. To get them out of her love life, they needed challenges and lovers of their own, so their stories started percolating in my head.

One of those brothers is a priest. Yes, the kind who takes vows of celibacy. Right away this presents a major conflict in a romance as well as gives our hero some major internal struggles. :)

I learned early in my writing career that conflict is good if you don't want a story that's only a few pages long. So in spite of wanting my characters to have their happily-ever-afters right away, I learned to write conflict.

One of the ways I do this is pick two main character who are opposites in many ways. For instance, a cop who sees life in black and white falling in love with a social worker who sees all the rainbow shades of motivation. Or a fireman who is attracted to a woman who is afraid of fire.

Or, in LEGACY OF ANGELS, a priest and a prostitute.

Then the plot must unfold in a way readers will find believable--but not predictable.

I had already set up a baby-selling ring in the first book of my LEGACY series. A caseworker had removed a child from his adoptive parents because this child had been stolen from his birth mother and sold under the guise of a legal adoption.

With the baby-selling scenario and two main characters in mind, I started asking questions to build the plot. For example, where is the birth mother? Did she search for her child? If not, why not? Was she afraid to get the child back? Or was she in such a dire situation she thought the child would be better off with someone else?

     After the success of the ABC’s daytime soap Dark Shadows, the creator Dan Curtis directed a darker version from the script written by Sam Hall and Gordon Russell and produced by MGM back in 1970. The script was based on the popular Barnabas storyline and starred the original cast such as Jonathan Frid, Grayson Hall, Kathryn Leigh Scott, David Henesy, and Roger Davis. The movie was shot in six weeks with a budget of $750,000, which is now considered a low-budget.

    The movie uses an altered version of the Barnabas plot. The recently fired handyman Willie Loomis visit’s the Collins’ family Old House in an attempt to steal rare jewels, but instead he unleashes the vampire cursed Barnabas from his 150-year confinement. Using his vampire powers, Barnabas makes Willie his slave. Barnabas wastes no time and introduces his self to the Collins family as a cousin to England.

    Barnabas meets the young governess, Maggie Evans, who looks exactly like his lost-love Josette. While during this time, Barnabas turns Carolyn, whom is later staked by Professor T. Eliot Stokes.

    The family doctor, Julia Hoffman, examines the blood of the victims and, for some unknown reason, knows that vampirism is behind the deaths. She soon realizes that Barnabas is a vampire and she offers to cure him. Barnabas accepts the offer. For a short time he is cured and begins to romance Maggie Evans.

 

    Gabriel Diaz, an astrophysicist, thought he was living a normal life, well as normal as it can be. He’s getting over the three-year relationship with Liz, who he is still friends with. Despite her affections for him, he only thinks of her as a friend. He’s excited that his twin sister Elena is about to deliver her first child.

    Everything changes the night he meets the exotic Kamilah and is instantly seduced by her. Before he knows it, he is traveling with Kamilah to the mountains of the Black Sea, where she has a family cottage in Rize. Strange thing begin to happen to Gabriel starting with his cell phone, his only connection to the outside world, disappearing. Weird nightmare haunts him, followed by hallucinations that make him physically and mentally ill. Gabriel learns that Kamilah isn’t the beautiful innocent woman she claimed to be, as she targeted him with a specific agenda that involves Elena.

Forever Hilltop

BY: Judy Baer

PUBLISHED BY: Guidepost

PUBLISHED IN: 2012

ISBN: 978-0-82494-529-9

PAGES: 576

    There are two books in one volume in Forever Hilltop. In the first book Unlikely Blessings, you meet Alex Armstrong, who after the age of 40 decided to follow God’s word and become a pastor. Despite being from the city, his first parish assignment is in Hilltop Township, a small community of Grassy Valley, North Dakota, city population 1,254. With the assistance of his nephew Jared, he travels to the small town, where upon arriving he learns that he is a pastor to two churches. The two churches can’t afford much; therefore Alex is pastor to both of them. He soon realizes that each church is the opposite of each other as the two sets of parishioners do not get along.

    The town isn’t exactly Mayberry, or anything Alex had imagined. The people tend to meddle in other’s affairs. And the single women like the idea that Alex is single too, bringing him plenty of food to eat. Alex doesn’t really know how to react to this as he is still getting over a failed relationship.

    In the sequel Surprising Grace, Alex Armstrong is adjusting as pastor of Hilltop Church, and adjusting to the odd ways and rituals of the town. His lost love soon returns, and Alex must choose between her and his parishioners.

Beyond Hope’s Valley
BY: Tricia Goyer
PUBLISHED BY: BH Publishing Group
PUBLISHED IN: 2012
ISBN: 978-1-4336-6870-8
Pages: 292

In the final chapter of the Big Sky series, Marianna Sommer is returning to the Amish community of Indiana with her fiancé, Aaron Zook, a marriage she has been dreaming about since she was a kid. She is returning to Indiana to attend her brother‘s, Levi, wedding. Her brother had briefly left their Amish ways for the ways of the modern world, but has come back to the Amish community to marry Naomi, who is expecting a baby boy. Shocking as this may be, it is not uncommon for an Amish couple to get married because of an upcoming birth. Naomi’s parents feel different and don’t want them to get married until after the child is born. Marianna plans to stay for the birth of the child and the upcoming marriage.

    Meanwhile, an upcoming singer, Ben, is still grieving over the brief romantic relationship he had with an Amish woman, Marianna, in Indiana. He is also still dealing with his friend’s accidental death, which almost resulted in Ben going to prison for murder. As his music career booms, another accidental situation occurs that may send him behind bars.