Yesterday I typed “The End”, kinda. I don’t use those exact words at the end of this series, but you get what I’m saying. I finished the first book!
Now comes the nail-biting, waiting, wondering while my editors and beta readers take their first crack at finding my errors, areas I need to make the story stronger, etc. I’m waiting for the final cover (OMG the mock up is GORGEOUS!!) and the last illustration before getting it formatted and ready for the soft release of May 15th, my father’s birthday.
I chose that date because it was my father who convinced me to become an author. If you don’t already know the story, I have my first college degree in automotive technology. I’ve been working on cars since I was 12 (fond memories being in the shop working on vehicles as my dad taught me). When I had my daughter, the shop I was working at fired me for taking maternity leave. I took a graveyard job building PC boards so that our daughter wouldn’t go into daycare. I was angry, hormonal and wanted vengeance so I began plotting ways of killing my boss and making it look like a vehicle accident. My dad, who lived with us the last 10 years of his life, read my notes and told me, “Kid, this would make a great book. You should write it down.” So I did, and Mechanics of Murder became my first novel back in 2007.
Now 19 years later, I’m releasing a mix-mash of genres that excite me. Why did I choose this mix up? My other college degree is in criminal law. I briefly considered becoming a lawyer, took criminal law classes, real estate law and business law and discovered that our entire system is filled with very corrupt people, both citizens and the department of justice and it’s employees. Watching true crime episodes and my research on court cases, I began to wonder what would happen if these evil people got their comeuppance in the afterlife? Where blackmail, payoffs and internal corruption didn’t factor? I’ve always loved fantasy and have written several books on the paranormal, so let’s combine the two. It’s been done in the past, so why not me? Then I realized these stories need to have images; creepy, dark and disturbing images. It wouldn’t be a graphic novel because it wouldn’t have every page illustrated, but something similar. Thus, my Crimeantasy™ idea was born. The set image is one of the illustrations in the first book.
I’m still going through changes as I learn more. Like this first book I had to change the criminal’s identity and didn’t get into specific details about his crimes because according to my lawyers (there are some good ones out there, you just have to be careful) even if they are convicted, their story is all over the news and on documentaries, I can’t write about them in this fashion because they could sue me for painting them in a less than positive light. Can you believe that? I can write about dead criminals. The laws made it where family members cannot sue on behalf of their dead relatives, so Jeffrey Epstein and Richard Ramirez is on my list of victims for Azreon.
I’m sure there will be more changes as this series and I grow together, but I’m super excited to get the first book into reader’s hands. My Lingenfelter website is almost done, and we will have the order link up soon!
Stay tuned!