BOOK GIVEAWAY: AND A SHOUT OUT TO MAD KING LUDWIG

I've been very bad about posting these past two weeks. BORDERLINE has just come out and I'm racing against a first draft deadline for my new novel. (Title initials G.R.A.) I know, excuses, excuses. And okay, my official deadline is really May 1, but I'm going to be away in Vietnam and Cambodia as of next Friday, so I made this unofficial deadline to kick my ass in gear. I have never been late for a deadline in my life, and as an Obsessive/Compulsive that fact exerts ever growing pressure on me as I age. I have this idea that if I was ever late my life would completely fall apart and I'd never get anything completed again, ever. Okay, I know that's irrational, but there you are. :)

Anyway here are some shots of what's inspiring my latest -- a Middle School-and-up fantasy set in the Middle Ages. You'll recognize the top photo either as the Disneyland or the castle of King Ludwig of Bavaria. Actually it's the real deal -- Disneyland used it as its inspiration for the Magic Kingdom. Here's another shot:



The following shot of 'the far mountains' -- the Bavarian Alps in real life -- came from a castle parapet leading to a simulated grotto under a castle theatre. Upstairs they'd be playing Wagner, while Ludwig would listen from his grotto and brood.



Ludwig was reputed to be crazy, but I personally think he was just very much in the closet. Think Michael Jackson, without the music or the sex charges, or... well, okay there are a lot of differences, and maybe he was a little crazy too. But still. He built these amazing piles in Bavaria, and even if he ruined Bavaria's finances, the people loved him because building all those castles meant they had full employment. Call it "Stimulus Spending" in the nineteenth century. He drowned in a very shallow lake, despite being a fine swimmer. At least that's what the doctor who was with him said. Calling Nancy Grace. Well, not her -- AAA! -- but Bavaria Vice, say.

More impressive than the Disneyland castle, at least on the inside, is this castle, where Ludwig actually lived. Every room is mirrored on all sides, with a jungle of gilt swans and lilies rising up from all the corners and over the roof. He lived here totally alone in the middle of nowhere with his male servants. They'd sleep all day, then drink and go on all-night sleigh rides. I asked my tour guide about my theory that Ludwig was maybe a little bit gay. She said she'd never heard that before. I pointed at the gilt swans and the lilies and the mirrors and said, "Uh, have you taken a look around?"



Here is his parents castle. Ludwig's Disneyland place is on the mountain above. Freud would have a field day.



And here's part of a medieval fence in Oberammergau where they do the Passion Play every ten years because apparently god spared the village from the plague. Everyone in town paints murals of fairy tales all over their houses. It's quite a sight.



Oh, and here's the town square of Bremen, which in how I imagine market square in my fantasy capital of Nebelstad. (Did I mention I took these on a reading tour of Germany for my German publisher dtv? DTV is great. And so is Bremen! I heartily recommend a visit, as well as the Ludwig tour you can get out of Munich.)



And here are two shots of the great forest Finsterholz (my name) -- which you'll recall from my trip to Argentina. (Love that rubber tree in Recoleta.)





This mountain cliff below, though, is a view from one of Ludwig's turrets. Check out the (still used) rope bridge on the middle right,



And now I better race back to my draft.

BOOK GIVEAWAY ALERT: Holly Cupala has a book giveaway for my new novel, BORDERLINE, at her site: www.hollycupala.com The post is dated March 11, and the contest runs till Monday.

Allan

MY NEW BOOK: BORDERLINE

Well... Last post I asked what people would like to read about -- and I got emails and comments at livejournal and elsewhere that a number of you want to hear about my new book -- BORDERLINE. So okay. For the next week that's what you'll get, because, hey BORDERLINE is coming out March 9, so if I don't talk it up a little now what's the point of having a blog, eh? :)



(Above: Me talking stuff up.)

First though -- and very connected to BORDERLINE: Holly Cupala, one of the readergirlz divas is posting an interview with me -- and also doing a BORDERLINE book giveaway -- on March 11 at her site www.hollycupala.com . You should visit her site anyway, because, like the readergirlz site, it's really good. Anyway, today I'll be giving a sneak preview of the interview, by letting you know what I told Holly when asked what the book's about and why I wrote it. I'll also be tossing in a few pictures of me working because, hey, just hearing writers puff their books is a bit, well... pushy? One kind of wants a writer's ego to be broken up with, uh, their ego, eh?



STRATTON, HEY -- I hear you say -- GET ON WITH IT! WHAT'S BORDERLINE ABOUT?

Okay. BORDERLINE is a coming-of-age mystery/suspense/thriller. The hero is Sami 'Sammy' Sabiri, a funny, gutsy, Muslim American. Sami has problems with a bully at the private boy’s school where he’s been stuck by his over-controlling father. But these problems are nothing compared to what happens when the FBI and Homeland Security swoop in and arrest his dad, claiming he’s part of an international terrorist plot. Aided by his best friends Andy and Marty, Sami risks everything in his struggle to discover the truth about his dad and save his family. It’s a roller coaster ride in which nothing is ever what it seems.

AND WHAT MADE YOU WANT TO WRITE IT?

Three things, probably.
My mom left my dad when I was a baby. Growing up, I was soon aware that the father I knew was very different from the father my half-brother knew, and even more different than the father my half-sister knew. As a teenager I thought, “If I can’t really know my dad, how can I know anyone? How can anyone know anyone?”
Also, one day when I was eight I was hiding under the picnic table and eavesdropping on a conversation Dad was having with my grandparents about capital punishment. I remember breaking into a cold sweat, overcome with the certainty that one day I’d be executed for a crime I didn't commit. The idea that life isn’t fair has stuck with me ever since -- and that horrible sense of how helpless we are in the face of rumor, gossip and fear.
Finally, I was a gay kid in the 1950s and 60s. Unable to be open even to the parents and friends who loved me, I instinctively learned to hide who I was in order to survive. I learned about the borders that keep us from each other, about the lines that separate and shape us. And I learned that ‘The Truth’ and ‘The Whole Truth’ are very different things.
In fact, come to think of it, these three experiences connect to the thematic core in all my work: my obsession with secrets, loyalty, betrayal, justice, and the absolute importance of living with truth.



Next post, if you can bear it -- some GREAT REVIEWS!!! Broken up with very cute pictures of my kitties. :)