First, let me thank those of you who have read “Lilith Redeemed” and given me feedback. It would be great if you would consider writing a little review on the Amazon site.
As I’ve told many of you, a number of my books have gone out of print recently and the rights have reverted back to me. I hope to revise all of them and then make them available both in hard copy and as ebooks on Amazon. “Lilith” had never been published before. While working on it this summer, I also began work on “She Loves You”. It is now available at: http://www.amazon.com/She-Loves-Yo…/…/1516893158/ref=sr_1_2….
There is fun story behind this book. It was first published under the title “Me and McCartney”. The story is all original and takes place in 1968 in Kansas City (I need all you KC folks to tell your friends about it!) It is the story of a poor kid from KC that almost becomes the King of England. In the original, he meets Paul McCartney. In “She Loves You” I added the other three Beatles into the story.
Part of the idea for the book came from my time working on the movie “Amazing Grace”. There is a line in the film where the primary antagonist in the story sees one of the abolitionists and says something like “The Jacobins are in.” The Jacobins were the English men and women who supported the French Revolution and thought England should also get rid of their monarchy. I thought the line was “The Jacobites are in” and researched to find out who or what were the Jacobites instead of looking for the Jacobins.
The Jacobites were the group of British aristorcrats who believed the deposition of the Stuarts from the throne of England by Parliament, and the subsequent placing of William and Mary on the throne was illegitimate. They believe the Stuarts were the rightful heirs rather than the Hanovers. There is still a group that to this day have kept track of who they think should be the true King or Queen of England.
I was walking through my house after doing this research and had an idea. What would it be like if the actual heir were a kid from America? That triggered my imagination. I made my protagonist a poor kid from Kansas City. I should also say that part of what I wanted to do was create a story where a good kid wins. I achieved this by thinking of everything I did, and was like, in high school and then gave my protagonist, Bobby Stuart, the exact opposite qualities.
I also wanted to create a character who loved the Beatles and would be willing to go to England by the possibility of visiting Abbey Road Studios.
Although fictional characters, you will see that the Queen, the Prince of Wales, and his wild girlfriend have direct parallels with the real Prince of Wales being a teenager in 1968. With all these thoughts running through my mind, I wrote what is now titled “She Loves You”. In the re-write I also titled every chapter with the name of a Beatles song that relates somehow to the Chapter.
It was a fun book to write and I hope it is fun to read. Although it is probably more suited to a Young Adult audience, I hope the nostalgia of 1968, and the Beatles “hook” make it enjoyable to adults also. So that’s the story behind the book. If you would spread the word, I would appreciate it.