Guest Post with author Scott Nicholson - OCTOBER GIRLS

October Girls: Yes, I Am
By Scott Nicholson
http://www.hauntedcomputer.com/

It can be hard to come out.

To be someone you know you are on the inside, but can’t let the world know about for whatever reason.
And I’ve been hiding a deep secret, but Cinnamon’s comfy lounge here at A Journey of Books is as safe a place as any to come clean.
I am a woman.

More specifically, I am L.C. Glazebrook, author of the new YA paranormal series October Girls. L.C. is everything I was never brave enough to be, sweet, charming, and funny. When I am L.C., the world is a sunnier place, and I laugh more, and I don’t have to worry about expectations. I can be my own woman.

But now she’s wiped off her lipstick and quit shaving her legs. She’s decided it’s more important to be whole and self-actualized, complete and integrated. Shadow meets light, girl meets boy. And we still get to be funny and sweet, but also dark and slightly dangerous.

L.C. Glazebrook was born a couple of years ago, back when I was at a turning point of my writing career. I’d written children’s books for my daughter but before I could find a publisher, she became too old for them, and I vowed to get some young adult books out that would help teach her about the world. Under the old rules of publishing, to veer so sharply away from your “brand name” meant you had to go into hiding, for both practical and subjective reasons.

Since corporate publishers track your sales numbers, even if you come up with something new, expectations will already be in place based on what you’ve done before. Labels are hard to peel off. And “Scott Nicholson” had a reputation for paranormal thrillers, dark fantasy, ghost stories, and mysteries. Nobody would embrace a total shift in direction, going to the light side with teen characters. So I had to become my own polar opposite or I thought no one would ever take it seriously. Or maybe take it too seriously.

The family was behind me, and we crafted L.C. based on family names and stories. My wife is the real Catholic School drop-out in L.C.’s biography. She says she wasn’t kicked out in seventh grade, she was merely asked not to come back. I call that “kicked out.” My daughter added the bit that L.C. is a gardener, beekeeper, and paraglider. L.C. became an art teacher because my wife is a community artist and puppeteer, and L.C. lives in Batesville, Indiana, casket capital of the U.S., because that’s where my wife’s mother was raised.

The idea was we’d craft L.C. and protect her from all the aspersions that might come from someone whose books once had “Horror” stamped on the side. But a funny thing happened on the way to happily ever after. It’s very hard to invent a new person when you need to get the word out about your book. It’s taken me 12 years to get known as Scott Nicholson, and we didn’t want to spend 12 years building up L.C.’s career.

Plus the old rules of publishing no longer apply. There’s no faceless board of directors or sales staff sitting around making judgments on what constitutes wise business moves. Now, I put the book out, and if you like it, you buy it and tell your friends. You aren’t worried about categories, slots, release dates, or marketing strategies. You just want a good story.

I love L.C. I love being L.C. And I can do that and still be me, without a hint of contradiction. I want to be the Johnny Depp of horror, anyway, taking on whatever weird role I can get. I’ve written silly comics and my first children’s book will be out soon, and half of my unproduced movie scripts are funny. Collectively, it all adds up to how I see the world, and what I want to share about it—with my daughter and with you. The weirder I get, the happier I am.

And I love the October Girls. The first book is called “Crystal & Bone” after the two main characters. Crystal, the willowy blonde, is a teen witch who doesn’t want to be a trailer-trash witch like Momma. Bone is her dead best friend, a little mischievous and jealous, but always loyal unless it stands in the way of something she wants. Like coming back from the grave and catching up on all the fun she’s missing.
Crystal isn’t sure if her boyfriend Pettigrew is hot for her, or just the victim of Momma’s love spells. Then a young hunk of a movie-maker comes to town and wants to make a movie starring a real ghost. And all hell is about to break loose unless the two teens stop him. They must overcome drama queens, coffin cuties, and mangled magic if they want to stay best friends forever. And, at this rate, forever may not last much longer.

There will be at least two more October Girls books, with “Dead & Unfriended” coming early next year. If you like them, I will write more, because I love these characters and have some very special complications awaiting them.

October Girls. By L.C. Glazebrook. That’s me.
Are we straight now?

Good. Now please excuse me, I have to go check my mascara.
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Scott Nicholson is author of The Skull Ring, Speed Dating with the Dead, Drummer Boy, and nine other novels, five story collections, four comics series, and six screenplays. A journalist and freelance editor in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina, he often uses local legends in his work. This tour is sponsored by Amazon, Kindle Nation Daily, and Dellaster Design.

To be eligible for the Kindle DX, simply post a comment below with contact info. Feel free to debate and discuss the topic, but you will only be entered once per blog. Visit all the blogs on the tour and increase your odds. I’m also giving away a Kindle 3 through the tour newsletter and a Pandora’s Box of free ebooks to a follower of “hauntedcomputer” on Twitter.

For each book that cracks the Top 100 in the Kindle store, I’ll throw in an extra Kindle 3 giveaway. So tell your friends and help out. Thanks for playing. Complete details at http://www.hauntedcomputer.com/blogtour.htm