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The Women of BEYOND THIS WICKED REALM
My novel, for which I am seeking representation, is titled BEYOND THIS WICKED REALM.
In 1970s, Portland Oregon, when stagflation met disco-mania, Portlanders seeking liberation from urban blight, lights out orders and ambushed pipe dreams turned to sexploitation. Mary’s Club, which features prominently in my newly completed novel, and other strip joints packed in customers. X-rated theaters and bookstores of the ADULT sort exploded around the city. To learn more about the background, please read my previous post titled, Mama Told Me Not To Come.
Below is a brief glimpse into the brave women in the story.
In 1972, Portland Oregon, four women—a Holocaust survivor, a mobster’s daughter, a drug dealer’s abused girlfriend, and a lady-scholar turned drifter—form an unlikely sisterhood in a fight for survival against Portland’s illicit porn and drug trades.
In Portland Oregon, our protagonist, Etta Broussard, has stopped taking her decades-long prescribed Valium drugs. Etta, a forty-five-year-old Holocaust survivor who views the evil in her world through the prism of The Lord of The Rings––suffers greatly from past trauma.
When Etta discovers that her neighbor is a pornographer and an inhuman monster, like Tolkien’s Orcs and Wargs in the concentration camps of her youth, she is dragged back into her nightmares. She vows to stop him from doing what the Nazi’s did to her. Her fervent mission launches the story.
Etta is a devotee of Tolkien’s work, sharing its message like a missionary on fire. She inspires these abused women to discover shieldmaiden-like courage in a battle with the criminal underworld.
When Etta meets fifty-year-old Ireland Ó Luain in a downtown Portland park, they become fast friends and form an unlikely sistership. Ireland becomes a big sister to Etta. Once a professor of women’s studies at Portland State, erudite and wise, Ireland now appears to be living rough on the streets of Portland. She pushes a grocery cart of her belongings around town and dispenses hard-earned wisdom.
Ireland considers herself as Persephone, sent to the underworld–a mental institution–for accusing a powerful man of rape. The commitment of a troublesome woman was acceptable in a city controlled by wealthy men. Cast into darkness, she now seeks to find her way back into the light.
Etta and her husband own a neighborhood bar. Two young friends, Maxie and Neva, are regulars. They offer Etta a bitter-sweet glimpse into the life of a normal twenty-something woman, laughing with friends, beautiful and confident. The life that was taken from her when she was sent to a concentration camp at fourteen. She adores them like daughters she never had.
One of the beautiful young women is Maxwell, ‘Maxie’ McGee, the twenty-three-year-old daughter of Portland’s most notorious gangster. Victim of her father’s increasing alcohol and drug-fueled rage, she longs to escape his wicked world and have a life without goons, corruption and murder. But she is terrified to go against him. She and Etta develop a sacred bond; Etta is the only person Maxie has found who knew her mysteriously disappeared mother. Maxie loves Etta as a symbol of her beloved mother, who she believes was murdered by her father.
One day, while sitting in the park, Etta and Ireland meet young Cleo Dubois. Cleo is a sixteen-year-old unwanted child, and now unwitting girlfriend of a violent drug dealer who works for Maxie’s mobster father. Etta saw darkness like these men in the camps: the SS had those dark souls—the most malevolent Nazgûl. They vow to save Cleo no matter what it takes.
After Etta makes a dreadful sacrifice, Ireland rescues Cleo. She hides Cleo away from her abuser and ushers her into a life Cleo never dared dream: family, friends, and a home of her own. Ireland mentors Cleo about surviving the darkness, then embracing life as it is, and thriving. And that thriving means fighting back, embracing her innermost shieldmaiden as Etta taught them. While mentoring and saving Cleo, Ireland finds redemption.
After Etta’s shocking brave sacrifice, Maxie ruminates on her many illuminating Tolkien-esque conversations with Etta and decides to embrace her inner shieldmaiden. She takes action to end her father’s wicked dominion over the city through drugs, pornography, and more.
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Next time, I’ll share a brief glimpse at the men in BEYOND THIS WICKED REALM: a mobster and his brutal, devoted lieutenant, a truth-seeking reporter (and love interest), and a mortician with a strong sense of justice.
Thanks for reading. Please LIKE and share.
And if you’re an agent who is interested in BEYOND THIS WICKED REALM, please contact me.
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Author, Storyteller, Poet, Instructor
Author Survives Parenthood and Writes Tell All
Now can you think of a book title that would horrify your children (and possibly grandchildren) more than these 
seven words, Author Survives Parenthood and Writes Tell All??? Not only would it garner immediate interest (fear) from your children, but because people are voyeurs by nature, it would grab the attention of readers, at least enough for them to pick it up off the shelf (old school bookstore or virtual) and give it a look-see.
Seizing a reader’s attention via a snappy title is a first HUGE step for author-kind. With a great title you’ve won the first battle, but there are so many more battles to come. Because next you must have written a great first line (hook) and follow that up with a good premise, plot, and great storytelling.
It’s true, readers judge books by their covers, paying particular attention to the title. Your book title can make or break the success of your book.
There’s a good article on this topic at Authority Pub. Here’s an excerpt I borrowed to make my point. ….According to research conducted by author, blogger, and speaker Michael Hyatt, consumers check out a book in the following order:
Title
Cover
Back cover
Flaps
Table of contents
First few paragraphs of the book’s content
Price…
Note that NOWHERE DOES IT SAY AUTHOR’S NAME.
So, in addition to scaring your children, what should a title do? If you take a peek at the above referenced site you’ll see some good examples of titles, both fiction and non. In addition, a title should intrigue, peek interest, shock, make a reader wonder What? Who? Why? offer help, or offer escape. There’s a plethora of opinions on what a title should do and how to do it. So do your research and carefully decide what works for your book.
Then after you have your title you can see if you’re on the mark.
LULU has created a free tool that will grade your title based on its probability to be successful. To create it, Lulu and their team of statisticians deliberated over a list of the best-selling titles from 1955 to 2004 and eventually created a super cool tool, the Lulu TitleScorer. Put your title in and see how it scores. I wish I’d of had this when my first novel came out, the title, Return to Sender only scored a 22% probability of success. UGH!
Also, here is a GREAT article on using power words and creating attention grabbing titles. Though the article focusing primarily on non-fiction, it’s all good info to keep in mind when crafting a title that will jump off the shelves. https://www.tckpublishing.com/how-to-write-book-titles-that-sell/
“A good title tells what the book is about. A great title tells what the end destination is. A truly superb title is one that tells the end destination and also appeals to core human desires.”
— Buck Flogging at Archangel Ink
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Mindy Meyers-Halleck 
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