Others may fuss and fight over what a book cover should look like, but I have a sort of sheer little idea from the second I decide to write a book. I think this one was even faster if that's possible. I knew I wanted to include something distinctly Oklahoman so that when people picked up the book, they wouldn't confuse Stratford, Oklahoma, with any other city by that name.
I included oilfields on the back of the book - and on the front, it's just a light sconce from some bank or some other art deco wall. It could be from any building, but it's clearly something you'd see in the 1930s. "Stratford" does take place in 1933 - sometime between July and December; it may creep into 1934 - I haven't written the book yet. I won't know until I know.
Right now, all of the characters are sleeping, rolling over, realizing that they're just about to be called upon to be the heroes and villains of my latest book. This book will be the 5th in the Nick Posh Thrillers and will be centered in a small town in the southern central part of Oklahoma. Stratford, Oklahoma, is a very real city with a very real history, and I intend to do my best to expose it - as much as possible. If that sounds really mean, nasty, rude, and unloving, you have not been to Stratford and been "welcomed" by some of their less-than-favorable residents.
I am 100% sure there are lovely, great, and fabulous people in the city, but they won't necessarily be the ones I focus on in the book. I don't have to; it's my book. It was my experience, and it will be my retelling -- in the most creative way I can. One of the nicest things about having my creative license renewed as often as I do is that I can say just about anything and everything I need or want to say to get my point across.
It cost me about $11 in gas to go there and come back, but it cost me $718 in falsified and erroneously rigged charges (IN MY OPINION) that, when explained to me, seemed as if I was not the only person these people had preyed upon—nope, not even close. According to my sources at the Garvin County Courthouse and the Stratford Times newspaper, this Stratford has been cooking the books and pulling the wool for quite some time.
In my new book "Stratford," corruption took place on a daily basis and to the point that the Governor of the State, as well as the leaders of the Chickasaw Nation, have commissioned Detective Posh and Private Investigator Eoghan MacRae to expose it all - to take names, and reel in the bad guys! It will be my pleasure to put a specific law officer and his cohorts at the city courthouse behind bars and in a pauper's grave after the lawman has been shunned by the city, its people, and the entire community he used for ill gain. One less bad guy -- but he's not alone.
Please read "Stratford" when it comes out. I think it will be finished and published by Thanksgiving. As with all of my books, the print edition comes out about three weeks before the Ebooks. Right now, I'm converting all the others. It takes a minute, but I don't have to do all the editing. Thank God!
Photo Credit: Me.
No comments:
Post a Comment