E.F. Watkins writes paranormal suspense and mystery. Dark Music, the first book in her Quinn
Matthews Haunting Mystery series, received the David G. Sasher Award, and Hex, Death & Rock’n’Roll was a
Mystery finalist for the 2014 Next Generation EBook Awards. Learn more about
E.F. and her books a her website.
Ever had a killer crush?
It's something we've
probably all experienced at least once -- a major case of unrequited
infatuation. The subject might be someone we actually know who is "just
not that into" us or a celebrity we may never even meet.
My first crush, starting
when I was about twelve, was on a TV star who shall remain nameless. In those
days, before the Internet or even the VCR, I could only find out the latest
gossip about him by reading “fan magazines” (more innocent than the tabloids of
today), and if I ever missed an episode of his weekly series or guest
appearance on a “variety” show, I was devastated. The one time I actually met
him in person, at an event in New York, I could not make any coherent words
come out of my mouth. I don't know if the typical fourteen-year-old girl would
react quite as dramatically these days, or would be more jaded, but you never
know. Not a parent myself, I haven’t observed any cases of “Bieber fever’” at
close range.
Some people, including
adults, take their obsessions with celebrities much further. Groupies follow
rock bands around, often in hopes of ending up as a girlfriend or wife of one
of the members. Fans of both sexes stalk TV or movie stars during their daily
lives, trespassing on their property or even breaking into their homes. These stalkers
sometimes believe that, if given the chance, they can make the object of their
affections love them back, and they blame the star's handlers for standing in
the way. Now and then a celebrity is injured or even killed by someone with
that kind of psychotic obsession.
Maybe because I still
remember the hunger with which I devoured those fan magazines and celebrity
gossip columns for any mention of my first crush, and counted the minutes until
he appeared on the TV screen each week, this phenomenon always has intrigued me.
I ended up making killer crushes the underlying theme for my second Quinn
Matthews Haunting Mystery, Hex, Death
& Rock'n'Roll.
Hex, Death & Rock’n’Roll
Through a series of
coincidences, journalist and fledgling psychic Quinn ends up helping a rock
band that has been told it's "under a curse." The lead singer, Alan,
has become the focus of a number of stalkers--whether motivated by love or
hate, they're all potentially dangerous. Any of them might be behind several
nasty “accidents” that have plagued the band, the latest one killing a
cameraman. Is it really possible that the band’s enemy is using a shadowy
entity to attack them? Can Quinn use her novice-level psychic skills to stop
the killer before he, or she, strikes again? Or will the toxic fan mistake
Quinn for Alan’s new girlfriend and decide to stop her, instead?
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3 comments:
I'm curious as to the identity of your TV star. Great post!
I think it's best to leave him mysterious. Also, it would really "date" me--as if the references to fan magazines and variety shows haven't done that already! Suffice it to say, he was a hunk on a rather action-oriented evening TV series.
I'm thinking your crush was David McCallum (Illya Kuryakin) on the Man From UNCLE! He was my first kiddie crush! And the guy who wrote the Man From UNCLE paperbacks during the 60s was a neighbor of mine (my first introduction to the life of a professional writer). His name was Michael Avallone and I used to haunt the poor guy about writing and David McCallum!
Sadly, Michael Avallone died in 1999. I can't embarrass him anymore. He was such a nice, patient man, putting up with a pre-teen ninny like me (and a friend who lived right next door to him) and explaining about writing and how he didn't really know David McCallum (at least when I knew Michael he didn't).
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