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Thursday, May 14, 2015

BOOK CLUB FRIDAY--GUEST AUTHOR E.F. WATKINS

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:

Angela Adams said...

I'm curious as to the identity of your TV star. Great post!

E. F. Watkins said...

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.

Anonymous said...


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).