What is your book all about?
The Resurrection was Jesus’ greatest miracle. But Peggy Deveroux answers to a higher power, and it tells her the Resurrection was nothing more than the Devil’s masterpiece. Like a Star-Age Boadicea armed with a God-given prophecy and a movie camera, she comes bearing a new gospel for a wanting world.
Ultimately, Monomania, Mon Amour is a ‘damsel in distress’ tale. But in this case, our Prince Charming is an inept hitman and our distressed damsel is a violent schizophrenic – paranoid type chronic.
What inspired you to write the book?
The story behind Monomania, Mon Amour begins in April 1985 with an evening at a small apartment in Glendale, Los Angeles; home of Lux and Ivy of ‘Psychobilly and Punk’ pioneers, The Cramps. Notable highlights of the occasion included hearing their account of a recent visit to a ‘musical cemetery’. Writing to Serial Killer John Wayne Gacy and getting chased out of Lubbock, Texas by the locals who wanted to kill them for being ‘godamn faggots!’
Lux played some fabulously obscure vinyl whilst on a continuous loop, was a series of vintage bondage movies on their 72” television set. The scenes were campy set-ups involving girls in lingerie, spanking and tying each other up. One girl stood out like a diamond in a dung heap—a raven haired beauty who, I was about to discover, was Bettie Page, the ‘Dark Angel’ and ‘Queen of the Pin-ups’.
It transpired that she was a huge star in the 1950s—famous for her shellac black bangs and Alaska melting smile – but disappeared from the face of the earth thirty years earlier. Almost forgotten in the following decades, she had become something of an underground cult figure by the 80s, with the mystery of her fate adding to her allure. Little did anyone know at the time of that Glendale soiree was that she was only an hour away in a San Bernardino mental asylum.
In the years that followed, I experienced a series of strange ‘Bettie related’ coincidences. An old friend, Noel ‘Razor’ Smith (himself an acclaimed writer of crime memoirs) wrote to me whilst serving life imprisonment for armed robbery, saying that ‘Clearly you were meant to write about her. Fate has a way of nudging you in certain directions. It’s best to take notice.’
What is your target audience for the book?
I wrote Monomania, Mon Amour in blissful ignorance of genre, but when it came to publishing and marketing it, I found that I had to find a neat little category to put it in, ostensibly so that my readers would know what they’re letting themselves in for. Research led me to conclude that Neo-Noir/Crime/Pulp was probably the nearest fit, so I read up on those types of writers to make sure. I was already a fan of James Elroy, so my search led me to the doors of Highsmith, Cain, Chandler, Hammett, Spillane etc. But towering over all of them was Jim Thompson.
I was aware that Thompson wrote the screenplay for Stanley Kubrick’s first great movie. The Killing for which he was subsequently ripped off, but that’s all I knew about him. When I wrote Monomania, Mon Amour, I worried that with some sequences I had gone too far. After reading Thompson (and remember, this guy was writing in the 50s) I realised I had not gone far enough! So, if I had to declare a target audience (even at gunpoint), I would choose fans of classic noir and hardboiled thrillers.
What do you hope readers could get out from your book?
I would hope it takes them somewhere. The art I enjoy the most, be it a painting, song, movie or book, are the ones that have a ‘transporting quality’—that take you away from where you are and puts you in a time and place far, far away.
What are your future goals/plans for the book?
Many of the reviews have remarked upon Monomania, Mon Amour’s cinematic qualities. So I am actively seeking any entities interested in adapting it for the screen. I think the second part in particular would make an interesting play in its own right.
And something more about yourself.
I am a South London born singer/songwriter who has performed all over the world with ‘Swamp-Rockin’, Garage-a-Billy, Country-Trash’ bands The Silver Brazilians and The Broadway Twisters. I studied Cinematography under the tutelage of Franz Von Hasburg at Brighton Film School and have appeared in a number of theatre, TV and film productions. I’ve written screenplays, short stories and have been published by a number of ‘glossies’ including Eternity, Shindig!, Milkcow Vintage, Music Maker and American ‘culture and politics’ magazine Bohemoth.
Most recently, my contributions have appeared in the books The Jam: The Day I Was There and Teds, Rebels, Hepcats & Psychos. Additionally, my short story “A Buddy Holly Story” is featured in the latest issue of Cerasus Magazine (#9). ‘Monomania, Mon Amour’ is my debut novel.
My next book ‘The World Belongs to Jane & Me – Part#1: 1963’ is the first in a trilogy based on the British wrestling scene of the 60s and 70s and should be out for September 2024.
Thank you, Author’s Lounge, for having me.
Click here for my Amazon link Find me on Facebook And Goodreads.
