Let's Talk About... David Bowie.

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It’s not uncommon for me to crush on characters more than the actors who portray them. For instance, my crush was Luke Spencer, not Tony Geary. (Sorry, Tony.) I’m into David Addison, not necessarily Bruce Willis. (Although he has made me crush on more than a few of his characters.) I crush on Captain Jack Sparrow, not necessary Johnny Depp, Jack Tripper, not necessarily John Ritter, Tony Stark instead of Robert Dow-.... no, no, no, bad example. (We'll get to him later...)

If an actor is really good, the character he plays becomes another person entirely, completely unique and appealing in their own way.

Such was the case with David Bowie, Jareth and the movie Labyrinth.



Like many kids of the 80s, I saw this Jim Henson-M.C. Escher-David Bowie acid trip back in the day. It was one of the handful of movies I actually got to see in the theater, for which I am eternally grateful - as it is one of my favorite movies of all time. I'm glad I was able to experience it in such a grand and pic way.

I was a BIG fan of the Muppets when I was a kid. Like, the bestie and I watched the Muppet Show religiously. (Beaker was our favorite.)

When I moved away from my bestie in 1982, and we were forced to do most of our communication through the written word, we used Muppet stationary to talk to each other.

I pay homage to that humble start here.



By 1986, I was 16 and a little more “grown-up,” so I was ready to tippy-toe down a road that incorporated sex, rock and romance into my head-trippy Muppet fascination.

It would be years and years later before Seth Macfarlane, Robot Chicken, Seth Rogan, et al, would take all of that a bit TOO far.

Back then, we had Ziggy Stardust to ferry us across the choppy waters of adolescent curiosity. We had the Thin White Duke. We had the Starman.

We had David Bowie.

David brought an otherworldly sexiness to the antagonistic role of Jareth, the Goblin King, right down to his infamous codpiece. There was the giant hair and the unapologetic use of makeup, both lipstick AND the eye shadow that showcased his piercing eyes, one brown and one blue, an anomaly I would later learned was the result of a fight. (His eye wasn't brown at all, but permanently dilated.) Which goes to show you, what someone else does to damage you might end up being the most fascinating quality you possess.

I needed to hear that at 16. And 21. And 32. And 49...



Bowie was simply cool.

But it was the way he played Jareth with smoldering obsession that left me breathless. Luke Spencer had already primed this particular pump, I was just waiting for someone to marry it with rock music.



Add to the androgyny that Prince had already introduced and I was a goner, so much so that had I been in Sarah’s shoes (the equally girlcrushworthy Jennifer Connelly,) I might have been like, “Toby, who?” and just traded boring teen life in for being Queen of the Goblins.

It wasn't like he was going to kill him FFS, he was just going to turn him into a goblin. Isn't it a bit creasturist to suggest this was a BAD thing?

Plus all of her friends were there anyway, and her parents seemed pretty content going out and living life child-free, which is what got everyone in such a pickle in the first place.

It just would have been hard to resist, s'all I'm sayin'.



My fascination with Jareth reminded me of why vampires scare me. They will be the death of you, but they are just so appealing, compelling and seductive, you kind of jump willingly right into the web, offering yourself on a platter, ready to self-destruct for the taste of one kiss.

So, when I finally got around to writing about vampires, I decided there was really only one prototype I could use as a reference.

Today, get MY IMMORTAL for free, and see how David Bowie, or, really, Jareth, dug himself down deep into my psyche about the kind of forbidden fruit that could cost you everything.

And thank you, David, for making my coming of age a little more cosmic.

Valentine #8 - Nicholas. The Tortured Prince.

What is the name of today's Valentine?

How old is he when we meet him?

Eternal.

What stands out most about him?

His raw intensity. He sees everything. He knows everything. You can feel his touch even before he enters the room.

Nice guy or douche?

That is the question, isn't it?

Favorite moment with him?

One of the things I love/fear about Nicholas is his intensity. It's the kind of raw power that, if he were to touch your hand, you'd know all the mysteries of the universe, but you might lose yourself forever. It would be more than simple attraction. Getting close to him would feel like stars were colliding. Imagine all of that coming at *you*. He wants you. He knows you want him. It's not even a matter of if anymore, but when. You can see it in his eyes. You can hear it in his voice. Maybe, just maybe, it's an echo. Maybe, just maybe, it's some invisible string tethering you to some previous life where you had once consumed each other. The force is so strong that maybe you're a little scared at first. But deep down inside you're titillated. And you're powerless to stop it, and why on earth would you want to? It's like balancing on a high wire but all you can feel is the wind on your face and the stars at the tips of your fingers.

Yeah, I've never had that until there was Nicholas.

She barely heard the knock at the door around midnight. She thought for a moment it was Michael, but as she walked closer to the door her heart revealed who really stood on the other side. She didn’t even need to hear his voice. Even through two inches of wood his hold on her was undeniable.

“Adele? It’s Nicholas.”

She gasped, unsure of what to do. Her first impulse was to fling the door open and fly into his arms, but at the same moment she wanted to get as far away from him as possible. She needed to keep her head, and there was no doing it the moment that she looked into his eyes. She shook as she stammered, “You know, I’m really not feeling all that well, Nicholas. I think it may be a bug. I’m just going to get some sleep. I’ll call you tomorrow.”

There was a pause. She held her breath, hoping that he would not see through her feeble lie. “What’s wrong, Adele?”

Her heart broke at the question. “Nothing's wrong.”

“I’ll feel better if I could see you,” he said, and she could hear the longing in his voice. It was the same longing she felt and subsequently cursed. “I’d feel better if you didn’t,” she finally said. A long moment stretched on and she started to think he had gone.

“Don’t do this,” he said in a wavering voice. “Don’t push me away.”

She didn’t answer. She couldn’t answer. Everything within her wanted to hold him just one more time—one more time before she had to kill him. Fate was indeed a cruel bitch, much crueler than Adele had ever thought possible. How could love demand so much? She sobbed softly.

“Don’t you know how long I’ve waited for you?” he cried through the door. She shook her head, forcing away the memories, forcing away the feelings. “You’ve waited for me too. You know it.”

Just as she started to walk away he said, “You love me. Remember.”

In that moment she was swept away into a memory she never would have believed belonged to her. She was wrapped in Nicholas’s arms in an ornate four poster bed, her leg was draped over his barely clad hip and he kissed her along her neck and over her bare breasts. His kiss consumed her, his eyes dark with passion. Her voice was husky with desire as she begged him to make love to her. Her nails raked down his back, on her left hand a ruby ring that he had given her because she had promised herself to him, till death do they part.

She watched in her mind’s eye how his strong hands spread across her soft, ivory flesh, branding her with his touch, setting her soul on fire with each kiss she could feel on her cold, cracked lips hundreds of years later.

And now here they stood again, their love defying death itself. Time rearranged so they could be together once more. Adele pulled open the door and rushed out to feel him alive in her arms again, screaming, “I remember!” into the shrieking wind of the night.

What do you love about him?

He's mysterious and powerful.



What do you hate about him?

He's mysterious and powerful.



If you went on a date, where would you go?

A place that looked like a castle. A place where he'd reign and I'd be his queen.



Who inspired him?

I wrote this the year after my first husband died. You could say I was working some things through.



Who might play him in a movie?

I needed dark hair, dark eyes and raw sexual chemistry, which is my own personal kryptonite. My original prototype for this character in 2004...

Do you have a special song that reminds you of him?

I have an entire SOUNDTRACK. But this will always be their love theme to me. I cry every time I hear it.



Any "Easter Eggs" planted with this book boyfriend?

Aside from the obvious symbolism that pretty much captures all the people I love, there was a moment where Michael, Adele's best friend, trots out to meet her on the schoolyard where she was tasked with running a mile and she couldn't do it. He walked with her every step of the way back to the finish line. That was a real experience with one of my soul mates - my best friend, Jeff.

I also crafted the equally mysterious Thaddeus after one of my adolescent fascinations, which makes this book a loving homage to being a teen in the 80s.



Where can we find him?

MY IMMORTAL is a stand-alone story. (For Now.) It is also free today only.