Sam is in love with his company, his image, his video games, and his ability to avoid commitment--at least until he levels up with attorney Lillian Walker. With her love of campy horror flicks and a body that makes him want to howl like a cartoon wolf, Sam’s found his leading lady. Too bad getting close to Lillian means tangling with her boss, a supervillain in the making.
In the nights leading up to Christmas, movies at The Electric mean more than just mutant toads and cannibal fruitcakes. Between shenanigans with old flames and an arch nemesis out to destroy any future they might have, Sam and Lillian learn the hard way that falling in love isn’t as easy as it looks on screen. When the past gets in the way of a perfect “the end,” there’s really only one solution--if werewolf Santas can bring them together, zombie ex-girlfriends can keep them together.
After all, anything’s possible at The Electric.
- Port Bristol, Maine, the setting of the story, is based on Cabot Cove, Maine, from the series Murder, She Wrote. I wanted to take a small town filled with quirky characters and drag it kicking and screaming into the twenty-first century—minus all the murders. (Although a murder mystery in Port Bristol would be an interesting change of pace!)
- I used a lot of old photographs of movie stars from the twenties and thirties when creating character descriptions. (Google “young Gary Cooper”. You can thank me later.)
- The Electric Cinema in London served as the main inspiration for Port Bristol’s Electric, along with The Castro Theater in San Francisco. I love the look of old kitschy, neon-trimmed movie theaters, and they’re a bit of a dying breed.
- I started writing the story on December 26, 2015, and had no plot in mind other than wanting to write something about the holidays that was funny and a little weird.
- I chose the title after the book was finished and only then because I was trying to submit it to a publisher. The online form wouldn’t let me submit without a title, and Love at The Electric was the first thing that popped into my head. I kept thinking if it were ever published, someone would want to change it to something else so it probably didn’t matter what I put. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ I’m glad it stuck.
- The chapter titles were originally only reminders for me, and I used them to keep track of what I wanted to say in a particular chapter. I didn’t intend to keep them in the book until a reader suggested it, but I’m glad I did because where else am I going to get to write “Bella Donna Blorg Queen” and it legitimately mean something? ☺
Beneath a tailored tuxedo jacket, Ravi wore a printed-on tuxedo T-shirt and an LED bow tie slowly cycling through a rainbow of colors. The left pocket of the coat bulged out, and Sam didn’t even have to ask why. Ravi slid his hand down into the pocket, deftly pulled out a chocolate chip cookie, and then took a bite out of it.
“Nothing illegal about it,” he mumbled, cookie crumbs tumbling out of his mouth.
“Isn’t the T-shirt a little redundant?”
Ravi held up a finger and swallowed his mouthful. “It’s ironic. And you know I hate dress shirts with cuff links. Makes my wrists feel—”
“Like they’re suffocating. Right. I know.” Sam turned back to the window and took another sip of his drink.
“Where’s Lillian?”
Sam tugged on his bow tie. “Not coming, I guess. It’s after nine, and not even the limo driver will text me back, so she must have changed her mind.”
A normal friend might have slapped him on the back and said, “Sorry, bro,” or something similarly empathetic. But if normal was a single color, Ravi was an LED rainbow. Sam looked over at him. They stared at one another for a few seconds. Ravi took another bite of his cookie, and twisted his mouth into an uncomfortable frown.
“You should leave,” he finally said.
“What? Why?”
“Because this is a party and you’re bumming everyone out.”
“Wow, thanks for the sympathy.”
“Sympathy. Such a human emotion…” Ravi deadpanned. He finally flashed Sam a grin. “Okay. Fine. I’ll simplify this for you—why are you moping around here when you could be moping around Lillian? Get outta here. Go get the girl.”
“Nothing illegal about it,” he mumbled, cookie crumbs tumbling out of his mouth.
“Isn’t the T-shirt a little redundant?”
Ravi held up a finger and swallowed his mouthful. “It’s ironic. And you know I hate dress shirts with cuff links. Makes my wrists feel—”
“Like they’re suffocating. Right. I know.” Sam turned back to the window and took another sip of his drink.
“Where’s Lillian?”
Sam tugged on his bow tie. “Not coming, I guess. It’s after nine, and not even the limo driver will text me back, so she must have changed her mind.”
A normal friend might have slapped him on the back and said, “Sorry, bro,” or something similarly empathetic. But if normal was a single color, Ravi was an LED rainbow. Sam looked over at him. They stared at one another for a few seconds. Ravi took another bite of his cookie, and twisted his mouth into an uncomfortable frown.
“You should leave,” he finally said.
“What? Why?”
“Because this is a party and you’re bumming everyone out.”
“Wow, thanks for the sympathy.”
“Sympathy. Such a human emotion…” Ravi deadpanned. He finally flashed Sam a grin. “Okay. Fine. I’ll simplify this for you—why are you moping around here when you could be moping around Lillian? Get outta here. Go get the girl.”
When not reading and writing, she enjoys spending time with her family and gardening at her home in North Carolina. You might also find her gaming, repairing computers and electronics, experimenting with mixed media art, or finishing furniture.
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