von Strassenberg?

A while back a reader asked, "How did you come up with the name von Strassenberg? It's so sinister."
Answer...um..
The first name I used wasn't von Strassenberg, nor was it as sinister sounding as von Strassenberg...which is probably why I dropped that idea.
It's actually kind of a silly story. 
And not a short one either. 
See, my junior year in high school I participated in the Model United Nations. That year I was only the recorder of votes. In the room I had been assigned there was this tall handsome young man in a hideous jacket. And his tie was atrocious. 
But all that mattered not when he spoke.
He was foreign. German most likely. And smart. I can still hear his voice saying to the other delegates, "China is not a capitalist country." 
I was smitten.
Afterwards I had worked up the nerve to go talk to him but some perky pixie blonde got to him first. They got onto a bus that took them back to a town an hour away from my own. 
Sigh. 
The End. 
No!
I was determined. 
A friend of mine asked why I was so despondent and I said, "O but I am in love and he is going away on that bus and I don't even know his name," and then I fainted lightly upon a conveniently placed chaise lounge. 
No. We were still in the musty auditorium. 
"I have a cousin who lives there," he tells me. And the plot began.
So my friend calls his cousin who of course knows of this foreign exchange student. It's a small town, small school. Foreign exchange students are like rock stars. So the cousin gets the address of the young German man and gives it to his cousin, my friend, who gives it to me. I then pen a letter professing my love...nearly. 
He writes back and wants a picture. 
Reasonable. 
I send one. 
"Oh good," he tells me. "I was afraid you were a fat, ugly American girl."
This set the tone for our entire relationship, one of snark and harsh honesty. One that carried on for three years. This was before email and facebook. Actually I think we got email halfway through. Ach. It was soooo romantic. 
When news of my engagement to my first husband reached him, this young German man wrote to me, "NO!" he proclaimed. "Don't marry him. Come to Germany! Runaway with me!" Seriously he did. I would post a pic of the letter but my fiance at the time found it, tore it in shreds, burned it and flushed it down the toilet. Yes. He did. 
So what does this have to do with the von Strassenbergs?
Only a little bit.
You see I can still remember that young man's address and I always thought his street name was fun to say. Trusetaler Strasse. Strasse. Strassen. von Strassenberg
Yup. 
That's how it happened. 

A Clue into Book 2

I love the raw, dark feel of this song and the power behind the words. It ultimately led me to use BlueStocking Girl as the title for Book 2 of The von Strassenberg Saga. I had been searching for a title to wrap the historical heroine into one word, Natalie Merchant helped me find it.

The Tragedy of Tom Welling's Age

It's something I think all writers do. We imagine who we would like to play our characters if and when the book goes to film. Filter: Book One of the von Strassenberg Saga will require three very tall, very handsome young men. Two are 18, one is 22.  So, it is tragic that Tom Welling is himself two years older than I am. That makes him 34. Ridiculous. Shame. While he still looks fairly young for his age he could never pull off 18. That would be going back to the 80's movies wherein they had 25 year-olds playing the roles of 16 and 17 year olds regardless of whether or not they looked that young. Sigh. It is most unfortunate. 


PICTURE THIS: (Tom Welling as Viktor, an excerpt from Filter)

The scent of him thrilled her senses as it mingled with the smell of promised rains. He drove the horse at full speed through the open field, reminding her every so often to hold tight or she would fall. She needn’t be reminded. She only wished the ride home was longer. Her body melded into his, melting into the strong sinews of his back, appreciating the hard feel of his abdomen beneath.....

UPDATE! The Bluestocking Girl (Book Two of The von Strassenberg Saga) is now available for Nook, Kindle and in paperback (you can only buy it online)! I thought I loved the idea of Tom Welling Viktor in Filter but he would be TOTALLY swoon worthy in The Bluestocking Girl. He MUST play Viktor! Tweet him, Facebook him, write him letters and tell Tom Welling he MUST play Viktor von Strassenberg!


For Kindle or paperback click here --->> AMAZON


For Nook click here ---->> BARNES AND NOBLE


As of 12/28/2012 Filter has 70 ratings on Goodreads with a 4.34/5 average! Woohoo!


Also as of 2/28/2012, Filter is undergoing a makeover now that Bluestocking is out. The paperback may be unavailable for sale until the end of the week. I'm thinking the new paperback will look like this (of course this is a view of the back, front and spine)

Vampire Diaries: Dark Reunion

I spoke too quickly about The Fury being my favorite of the Vampire Diaries series.
It's been awhile, forgive me, and I couldn't remember the fourth book.
But the first line of the first page brought it all back; all the memories of being twelve and having nightmares that mirrored Bonnie's because the dreams she had were so disturbing to me. The part with the teeth falling out, that was already a nightmare of mine and reading about someone else having that nightmare only caused me to be plagued by nights spent losing my own teeth. I was twelve and I didn't fall in love with Stefan. I was in love with Damon, dark and brooding and self-controlled Damon who is somehow always late but also always just in time.
It took me, cumulatively, three hours to read Dark Reunion, having been swept up by that first line. LJ Smith knows, unlike some authors, how to write action, how to time it so that it takes just long enough to put you on edge so that you want to read every word even though you're frightened to because you're not exactly certain what she'll allow the characters to do.
And she knows romance, not just the simpering fairy tale cottage and the designer clothes ( you know what I'm talking about), the real romance behind all things. The romance that links lovers and the romance that just is the sweetness and terror of life and love, that connects friends just as much as it connects lovers.
I'm a little leery about reading the new books.
I'm almost afraid they were only written for the sake of the show. If so, I want nothing to do with them. I only want them if their existence is due to the fact that Stefan and Elena and the gang truly weren't through with their escapades. I hope they aren't ridiculous.
Let's find out, shall we?
O and by the way, I saw on a certain website that some schmuck is trying to sell a 2001 edition of The Fury for $35. Whoever it is, they aren't a real fan.
I have the original print edition in like new condition. All four of the series. And sweetie, I ain't selling.