Oh happy day!

Well, here it is, folks.  I am so excited to announce it's time to launch the next book, The Missing Chapter – A Story of Love.  Explaining how this one came to be might require a little bit of background.

In the summer of 2010 our family was relocating from Pennsylvania to Texas.  On the day the movers loaded the truck with all our worldly belongings and pulled out of town, my eldest son and I decided to stop at the used book store next to the library—something we always said we'd do while we lived there, but never did.  Besides, he wanted something to read on the long drive.  I'm proud to say he is as much of a bookworm as I am.

I hadn't planned to buy anything that day.  No, really.  I was just going to look.  Well, okay, I admit I asked the desk clerk where the classics were since I collect different print versions of Phantom of the Opera and I wanted to see if they had any hardbacks available.  They didn't, but it brought me to my favorite section in any bookstore.  The Classics!

I told my son we only had thirty minutes to spend inside the little shop since we had a long drive ahead of us the next day and still had a few other things on the agenda.  I also said I'd only buy him one book since I'd just witnessed the movers load up more books (and hence more pounds) then I cared to admit.

An hour and half later, he and I walked out to his car with our arms laden with books.  I am helpless to resist the call of the written word. I am!  I am!  Powerless!

But, something magical happened while my son perused the biography section and I sat in front of the shelf with a stack of classic "possibilities" next to me.  Sometimes I just "connect" with a book.  It will call to me.  A weird connection that draws me in.  Sure, there are books I really enjoyed and loved to read, but certain books send spark waves through my cortex and send jolts of excitement into that little piece of my brain that contains the manic writer.  "Wake up!  Wake up!  Something important is about to be read!  You've found another magical one."

Actually, I don't think my manic writer ever sleeps, but that's a whole different problem.  Anyway…

I started reading this book in the narrow aisle surrounded by that wonderful, musty, dusty smell of old books.  Little did I know that unexpected reading session in the used book store would spur my imagination into writing another book based on another well-known literary figure.

Yep, it happened again.  (Last time, I promise!  The next book out for release in October is not based on a classic.)

When I got my hands on this classic book, I didn't expect much really.  However, when I read the introduction, my mouth dropped open and my heart start beating with quick, excited beats.  I stood in that little book shop with my head spinning.  Thank you, Keith Neilson for writing the fabulous introduction that gave me the inspiration to read a novel I would have never picked up otherwise.

What book did I fall in love with that day?  Drum Roll!

The next classic character that had a story to tell:  "The Creature" from Frankenstein by Mary Shelley.

Here is the introduction written by Keith Neilson that started the whole thing.

Neilson wrote:

"…when a character becomes such a fixture in the popular imagination, it may become difficult to talk about the original.  The first time reader [of Mary Shelley's book]may be puzzled, even disappointed, by the differences between the "real thing" and the myth, particularly when that myth was crystallized in the contemporary mind, not by that original, but more recent versions.….

  Therefore, to keep the surprises and disappointments to a minimum, we had better start with a list of major differences between [Shelley's novel] and popular perceptions:

              Frankenstein is the name of the scientist who made the creature, not the  monster 

            The creature is not an ugly, inarticulate, mindless eight-foot lurcher with bolts in his  neck.  He is graceful, intelligent (he can read and write), very articulate

            There is no hunchback assistant

            There is no lightning that sparks life

My hands started shaking when I learned the creature was intelligent and articulate.  My mind raced with ideas of what the creature might say!  I wanted to know–no, I had to know what was on this unique being's mind.  I couldn't wait to start reading the book.

From the time I got in the passenger seat until I finished the novel two days later, I was in the palm of Mary Shelley's hand.  I hung on her every word.  She had my mind spinning with ideas.  I loved the book and it has since become one of my all-time favorite pieces of literature.

I know what you are thinking.  How can I make that book into a romance?  Well, read "The Lost Chapter – A story of Love" and find out.  Trust me, there is a story there and the "creature" is just dying to tell you.

There was a big gaping hole in Shelley's complex story that just wouldn't go away even when I read it for the second time.

Throughout Shelley's novel the creature rightfully bemoans being unloved and friendless.  He often speaks of his loneliness and cries over the probability that no one will ever love him.  In beginning of Chapter 15 the creature is still searching for acceptance and compassion.  He is gentle and doesn't even kill animals to survive in the woods.  But, (here's the kicker!) by the end of the chapter, he becomes a raging lunatic with revenge on his mind because the family he's been spying on (and living vicariously through) has fled in terror after seeing him.

Wait a minute…in my humble opinion, that drastic personality change needed more exploring.  So, I asked myself:

How can he lament his loveless life if he himself has never been in love or had anyone love him?  He doesn't even know what it means!

He's angry because he's denied love, that's understandable.  But, it seemed as though something else happened, something monumental that turned this creature from docile to deadly.  Did the creature leave out part of his life story when he tells the tale in Shelley's novel?  It certainly sounded like it to me.

And so an idea was born.  Something happened between Shelley's Chapters 15 and 16.  The reader doesn't need to read Shelley before reading The Missing Chapter.  There is a short prologue that sets up the first scene and then the book stands entirely on its own–including having its own distinct ending.

 "The Missing Chapter – A Story of Love" explains the transformation in depth and brings to light how it felt to be this creature—this experiment made from death and given new life.

The only one of his kind.

There have been several recent adaptations to this novel, but none have stayed completely true to Shelley's novel.  Trust me; in doing research for this project, I watched every single movie/tv series I could get my hands on.  The following link is the closest version to Shelley's description and therefore the closest version to what I pictured the creature's appearance might have been in The Missing Chapter – A Story of Love.  You might be shocked, really.  I do not own the rights to the following Youtube video.  However, it is a short clip and an amazing video with great insight into the creature.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mpV83uldclM&feature=my_liked_videos&list=LLbRjgH1JhYOutUPPS1zH2Lw

So without further ado, I give you:  The Missing Chapter – A Story of Love.  Below is the book trailer.  I truly hope you like what I've done with this classic character.  It's my greatest wish.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QEOPvVvt4pU

Also, please visit my website:  http://kristinegoodfellow.weebly.com/