How it Started...

Welcome to my blog, which will chronicle the writing and publishing of my novel, The Violet Hour...a story unlike any other you've ever read (and that's according to my friend's who've read it!)...leave your comments and ideas here! 

Now here's some background for starters...

At first my friends and their acquaintances humored me but they also  agreed that a blog that was based on the experiences and interviews that I conducted while writing my novel - The Violet Hour, would perhaps be a good story.  Still they insisted that it would have little relevance to the disciplined lives of classical musicians that was the world in which my novel was set .  “Write it if you will,” they encouraged, “but we can’t enlighten you in any way.”  And finally, “Have fun with it.  What an idea.” That was before I had gone with a flagging heart to meet Lila (I’ve changed her name to protect her identity and that of her lover), at the Starbucks across from Lincoln Center.

            Lila made a startling impression with her obsidian black hair and pale grey eyes like the color that I’d seen on seagulls frolicking during summer months on the northeastern Atlantic coast.  Her lips were full, a little too full, I thought, though I hadn’t been able to detect any cosmetic enhancement. Lila had a full blown sensual quality, like a summer fruit that had gone one day past its prime.  

            “Mortal men are not what they used to be. Maybe they never were what we were encouraged to imagine through literature, stories, the very power that they hold in our society. They’ve wrested power from women over the centuries and we’ve slowly reclaimed what was ours.  But they hold positions of power without the vibrant male energy that differentiated them from women.  They bullied and formed endless frat clubs, first in school then in business and finally in all of the corridors of power that affected our lives.  But for me, they paled in comparison to the lusty and determined operatic heroes who were basically misguided, but they had passion. Always that. I’ve been married, divorced, lived with men and lived without them.  Then I decided that I needed something super natural, extra ordinary.  I set my intention. You know what I mean? And I put the word out with some Wiccan friends.”

            I have to confess that I began to lose my author’s focus and had begun to fantasize about a soy mocha frappacino with drizzled caramel and whipped cream.  I got lost in my imagination again; I guess that’s why I became a writer. So I almost missed the punch line.

            “It came in through an email account that I’d never set up, but to my inbox.  At first I thought it was a joke and I almost hit delete, but I was intrigued about the email account that had been specifically created for me to receive that specific message. I knew that it had to come from someone who knew me and who wanted me to receive this information anonymously, so I clicked on the email. I took a sip of Merlot and waited while the site loaded.  At first there was only sound.  Not just sound, but something like an aural orgasm.  It shot through my body and filled me with a sense of longing and fulfillment as the harmonies washed over me, built tension and then resolved in unexpected ways, but the musical resolution was always satisfying, you know.  Then I was prompted to state my gender and my gender preference and then the screen faded into a stunning photograph of the milky way. I felt like I had been sucked into the center of that creamy vortex.  And stars began to spin and swirl accompanied by that unbelievable music again. And there were a lot of dominant seventh chords.  I'm a sucker for the dominant sevenths, you know? Then the screen began to fill with images of the sexiest, most alluring, rugged, handsome, sensual, fragile and beautiful men.  They were men and they weren’t, if you know what I mean. But each of their images began to form in one of the distant stars and then filled the screen, until their was nothing besides their faces, lips, jaws, cheekbones - just this manic sexual intensity.”

            I didn’t really know what she meant but she’d captured my attention.  I kind of wanted the url so that I could check out these uber men.  My dating life was kind of in a major funk that was beginning to feel like a life choice that I hadn't made - you know celibacy.  When did I ever decide that I was cool with being alone, but there I was, alone.  Lila had been speaking and I didn't want to miss what she had to say.

             “Some had fangs, other had unusually full, sensual mouths.  The site had categories.  Sure, I’d heard of Vampire, but they had another category Vampayre, under the heading Succulents.  And there were other headings and other species that I didn’t recognize.  But the men or whatever were magnetic.  Their faces took my breath away.  I got a second wind if you will, and stayed up all night gazing into their eyes, taking in their faces and reading their cryptic profiles. 

    I began to feel that I was maybe a little unhinged, you know?  I wanted to tell someone else about it.  So I decided to bookmark the url, but I couldn't find one.  Then I began to panic, how would I find the site again?  How could I communicate with the men, or whatever they were?  I was nervous so I'd logged off without thinking about how I'd find it again.  But their images, their lips, their eyes haunted me.  I couldn't stop thinking of one Vampayre.  His screen name was NightShade.  So I logged on again and his face filled the screen.  Before I knew what I was doing I started typing in my profile and downloaded a candid picture that I'd just taken of myself.  That's when the adventure that's defined my life, began.