Idabel Allen's Blog: A Lowbrow Literary Life

And so begins Cursed! My Devastatingly Brilliant Campaign to Save the Chigg  an epic mortal frenemies adventure and mystery…

14 year old Ginny, the creative girl genius and future award-winning zombie movie screenwriter/director/producer assured her parents she was older now and more mature. There would be no more outbursts in class or trips to the principal’s office… no more food fights.

Of course, Ginny has no intention...

It can’t be helped. What with diving knee deep into edits on the next book, publishing Cursed! My Devastatingly Brilliant Campaign to Save the Chigg, and promoting Rooted, there is little time for maintaining a blog.

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Thank you and good day!

The post...

4.5 stars! I won this book in a Goodreads giveaway. It came signed by the author, and included a personal note. It was a very nice addition to the already amazing book.

This is the first time in a long time that I’ve enjoyed a story just for the sake of the story. It seems like the only books being published today are the Gone Girl-style of mysteries with unreliable narrators. This book is just a good story. Period....

Let me tell you, writing fifty, sixty even eighty thousand words is nothing compared to trying to narrow an entire story down to a thirty-second “elevator” pitch. Basically, a brief yet POWERFUL summary of your story that should, if done right, leave the recipient saying, “My God! That is the most incredible thing I have ever heard!” and send him, or her, scrambling to the nearest book store like a junkie needing a fix (meaning – middle aged woman in search of dark chocolate.)

As I am knee de...

Think of this as a bit of Southern Gothic lit and a bit of Steel Magnolias if somehow a Stiv Bators analog was in the mix. Rooted takes place in the fictional town of Moonsock, Tenn. sometime in the late ‘70s. The sudden appearance of heretofore unknown grandson, junkie, and New York punker Slade sets off a chain of events, leading to upheaval of the carefully...

It’s true, Writer’s Digest went and asked me to write a little something. And here it is. Enjoy.

Southern fiction.

It encompasses the lyrical and beautiful, as well as the vulgar and grotesque. It is both comic and tragic in the same breath. Seeding the South’s traditions into each new generation, the canon of Southern literature continues to grow: brambled and wild, like some ever-abundant garden.

This garden should have died o...

There's been a lot of stuff going on lately. But when I read the Rooted review Los Angeles punk magazine Razorcake has coming out in the next issue, I must admit to being well-pleased. As in this is pretty dang cool!

I'll post a link to the actual review once it is out. 

Many thanks to Adrian Salas for the well-written review. It's not everyone who gets Southern Gothic, Steel Magnolias and Stiv Bators mentioned in the same sentence. 

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Latest review:

Very interesting short stories that grab your attention from the first paragraph, only complaint is most of them could be full length novels! Quick read but also holds your attention.

Get your free ebook copy of Headshots here.

As part of my ongoing series on FASCINATING INSIGHTS into the life of an author, namely me, I present to you this insight:

For three nights in a row, I have dreamed of celebrities who have seen better days.

Night 1, : ‘Tis been a long and valiant career, but gone are the days of Benny and Joon, What’s Eating Gilbert Grape and Ed Wood. And yet, Mr. Depp found a starring role in my dream, revealing to me a check for over $200,000 dollars he received for acting in some film (another i...

As part of my ongoing series on FASCINATING INSIGHTS into the life of an author, namely me, I present to you this insight:

For three nights in a row, I have dreamed of celebrities who have seen better days. 

Night 1, : 'Tis been a long and valiant career, but gone are the days of Benny and Joon, What's Eating Gilbert Grape and Ed Wood. And yet, Mr. Depp found a starring role in my dream, revealing to me a check for over $200,000 dollars he received for acting in some film (another in...