Whispers of Sleek Immortality

An Interview with Illustrator and Artist R.Black

Part 1 of 2 (link to Part 2)
Click on any picture to enlargify

A long-time friend that probably knows me way too well for MY own good recently asked me how I decide with whom I’d like to conduct an interview and where I find the different inputs out there that push me to contact an artist. Well, certainly there are various rather tame outlets that I rely on and even research, from social media to scrounging through any number of different blogs or other web-sites for a good catch (or my favourite, just plain dumb luck). But in the case of R. Black, my indoctrination into his work was quite by random happenstance. Or maybe not.

You see, I am an incessant collector of images from the Internet. I tend to download quite a number of pictures throughout any given week (no, not that and certainly not just randomly picked either). Typically, the pictures I choose are rich in such aspects as texture, color, or even contain various forms or objects that I tell myself I’ll incorporate one day into an ‘original’ sketch of my very own. These have included recently, for example, the texture of a dried out lake in Africa (great greyish brown and the cracked texture of the dead earth is astounding), an eerie photo collected of members of the French Resistance all wearing their primitive gas masks or even a collection of characters from the show ‘Firefly’ (which I have never seen but I hear it’s nice) posing with their guns aimed at various angles.

And yes, to confess, I honestly will not want to throw these away at any cost because with the gods as my witness, I WILL need them some day! So I continue to fill memory stick after memory stick with every shape and size of bitmaps, jay-pegs and even the occasional annoyingly primitive gif.

I come by this somewhat unenviable trait honestly, that is, this tendency to gather and horde. Both my parents are also collectors: my mother with her drawer containing various functional ephemera including enough buttons to fix all shirts missing at least one button in the free world; and my architect-slash-remodeler father who has never, EVER thrown away a piece of wood in his life because by golly you never know when you’ll need a piece JUST THAT SIZE to finish a key part of a kitchen floor or cabinet. And you know: I truly believe that they are both beyond any shadow of doubt absolutely correct in their actions!

And so it was one day that I stumbled across an innocent enough looking picture from some random blogger’s bar-hopping excursion through the lovely streets of London. The picture itself was nondescript, showing essentially a routine pub entrance and place for the smokers to step out and enjoy a ‘fag’ along with their pints of finest tepid ale. I was attracted to the picture at first because of the interesting shaped placard in front (got a street scene in mind, you see). But then a poster in the window caught my eye. It was for something called ‘Hard Cider’ – noting I have never partaken in either hard or even soft cider in my life (I love apples but they don’t love me, ‘nuff said).

The ad managed to not only grab my attention, but I found that the closer I looked, the more interested I became. The illustration itself was very plain in its color selection and even tame in its depiction of an moderately attractive albeit rather scantily clad young lady offering an apple in a loosely considered biblical setting. But I found myself intrigued by the sheer stylishness, the sleek lines and even burlesque subtlety of the entire ensemble. Everything worked so well together, from her look, her form within the frame and even the lettering ... I was hooked!

And as such, through my search of the brand name I eventually came across an astounding collection of R.Black’s works, ranging not only from a ‘steady stream’ of lovely damsels – in an almost but not quite A to Z listing – offering one and all a refreshing drink, but also full of the morbidly hilarious and even tantalizingly fun images found in his program covers, rock and roll posters, and much much more. And so dear friends, I am indeed happy to share with you the timeless works of R.Black and hope you become as enamored with and enjoy them as much as I do:

Hi Rich, welcome to the show (or do you prefer to be called ‘R’?):
Thanks! And ‘R.’ is fine.

R., in ‘L'Art de R.Black’ (suggested retail price $19.95, including 3-D specs, ergo a bargain at twice the price), you list some of your artistic influences as including Michelangelo, Chuck Jones, Picasso, Berke Breathed (hopefully pre-cockroach obsession phase), Aubrey Beardsley and Kazu Kibuishi. Now, with all that being said and seemingly not leading to a very coherent question up to now, who, what or how has influenced your art over the years?
Well, for sure all the artists I have mentioned.

Plus, I’ve been influenced as well by the drive to not ever have to work a "real" job, be beholden to anybody, and to be who I want to be without any societal restrictions.

And, of course, immortality! My art gives me the opportunity for all these things.

Who continues to be in your mind a source of the thought ‘oh man if I could just reach that skill level’, and what’s it all about anyway? I mean, why is R.Black doing what he’s doing?
I'm not sure if it's about a skill level. It's more about vision, about developing an image that stands the test of time. It’s about cementing your name in art history, be it fine art or pop.

You do not need a lot of skill to create a masterpiece, just an image that people can relate to. Whether its 3 lines and a circle laid out in such a way that it's captivating to an audience or a spectacular masterpiece such as any of Shepard Fairey's pieces. I mean, just with the work that he’s created thus far, he's already made it to artist immortality level.

Your home-page takes the viewer on a journey into the sexy, often macabre and even playful side of your work, especially the seeming nod to the cartoon series of the 60’s and 70’s (oh yeah that Betty had it coming to her and ‘Poppa Jetson’ never gave Judy the keys to the jet car when she asked, so who can blame her?). With some of these classic ‘story behind the story’ illustrations in mind, do you consider yourself – as I do – particularly scarred by the whole Partridge Family / Brady Bunch era? I mean, all problems solved in 30 minutes including commercial breaks? Who came up with this shit? And on Gilligan’s Island: the Professor could build working electronic materials but he couldn’t get a functional boat made to get them off the damn island?
I’m sorry, was there a question in there?

No, I’m sorry; it’s time for my pill.

But let’s move on... How much overlap is there between art forms such as what you’re involved in and even other graphic arts found ‘out there’ today? Is there, just as an example, a lot of synergy between you and your work and the local tattoo illustration crowd or even, I don’t know, the chopper detailing crowd?
I'd say I dip into every scene that I can. This includes burlesque to stage theatre to Hasbro.

I'm a whore for art: if you're paying, I'm doing.

I’m not sure if I answered your question. It’s just that I think if you box yourself into one form you are denying yourself growth.

I’m just curious: does R.Black have an aversion to more mainstream assignments? Or is your currently portfolio selection – which has been listed under various ‘categories’ including vintage or horror-terror illustrations, or weird and sexy art found in flyers and on tee-shirts, unique album covers and posters, etc. – just more by chance than personal selection?
No, again, I'll do it all.

I think it's more so that I'm not doing art that the "mainstream" likes, which is cool, even though it doesn't pay as well.

Looking at your collected, um, collection again, Brian Ewing noted that you have "had the greatest impact with the Goth/Industrial scene, a scene that's been overlooked by most other rock poster artists. Rich chooses the bands he likes. Bands that you never heard of because they're hardly on TV or radio. Great bands that need posters and appreciate them." Is the rock poster industry really that active outside of this realm?
Rock posters were hitting it big for a few years, and a lot of poster collection books came out. A lot of rock poster artists got to get their own books, me included.

Still, I’m not sure how the scene is going at the moment. I seem to have stopped paying attention. But like everything, I'm sure it will have its own ebb and flow.

Also, why do these bands really need posters? Or is it just part of the whole scene in terms of ‘well duh, if the Misfits perform there HAVE to be posters’?
Bands don't need posters, venues need posters. This is really where the bulk of most poster work comes from. The bands usually have nothing to do with them or even know they exist most of the time.

A rock poster is just an advertisement. Our job as artists is to make the event look better than it is, thus making the venue look cooler than it is. This in turn enables the clubs to draw better bands and better crowds. I think it all starts with the propaganda.

Plus, as long as there are young artists looking to make a splash and do it without getting paid, there will be a rock poster scene, just like the music scene. These scenes are driven on energy and you can’t do either if you don’t have the passion.

In my case specifically, I live in the Oakland/ San Francisco area where art in every genre is always popping. The Bay Area is pure energy, so these scenes will never die here.

That being said, I'd still say it's a national thing for sure: we love our posters and our merchandise.


Continued in Part 2

Whispers of Sleek Immortality

An Interview with Illustrator and Artist R.Black

Part 2 of 2 (link to Part 1)
Click on any picture to embiggenate

R., I’ve seen with some amount of drooling that some of the groups you do business with will even hold contests to see who’ll be the next ‘Cider’ or ‘Scooter’ girl or even Hubba Hubba Revue, uh, lass. When a contest winner is then declared, do you draw her or let’s say incorporate at least her image from memory or with pictures or even with the models posing for you?
I mostly draw from pictures.

Head-shots are to me the important part; bodies are easy to draw and on average one pin-up's body in illustration looks like any other. It's the face that's the unique and complicated part.

Is there ever an ‘I’ve gone too far’ for you when it comes to your work?
Probably.

In my opinion as a poster artist, one should stick to a PG-13 rating as the whole point of an ad is to be able to put it anywhere.

If you start getting too crazy or insulting with your image than it limits where you can post them, thus limiting the number of people who will see it.

But I have been amazed sometimes at what I can get away with. Have I crossed the line at times? Likely, but again that's the guideline I try to stick to.

Besides being clever is much better than being obnoxious.

To this same subject apparently (well, it is in your book, so it must be true) we are now ‘in the third (and hopefully not the last) poster renaissance of artists who are making the music scene breathe with life and color again. This time around, more people are informed and involved, thanks to the many web-sites and forums that have been popping up and supporting the movement (especially gigposters.com).’ Now granted the same quoter goes on to say somewhere that you’re not exactly bathing in money for doing this, but do you really think this is a medium that is here to stay for the near future?
As I mentioned earlier, there will always be artists and bands/venues that need art. The paper medium might disappear, but it will always live digitally.

And really, art – like music – all depends on who looks at it: one person will think that a band sucks and another will think it's the bee's knees. Same then with the posters.

That’s the beauty and curse of art: you can't define it or predict it. I’m not sure who the mainstream crap merchants are, but most merchandise is crap by definition. I'd say ‘less crap, more quality’ – even with my own work – but we do not live in that world anymore. It's a disposable reality.

How did the various scooter or even Original Sin gigs come into being? I guess that’s sort of a chicken or the egg question (e.g. was it the rock posters or ‘others’ that came first?).
I tend to do art with things I have a stake in.

The scooter thing happened because I was heavily involved in the vintage Vespa / Lambretta scene which in turn revolved around the ska/oi!/punk/mod scene which I was also into. Doing posters gets me access to events and shows. So my art is my contribution to the canon as it were.

I really can’t remember how the Original Sin ball started rolling, but I also like pin-ups, fetish, and alcohol ... so it was a good fit. But in either case, doing club flyers and posters happened first.

What does it mean to you as an artist when a group like one of these that you’re so closely identified with signs you up for a longer term deal?
Hopefully more money.

I found one quote I liked, again from Brian Ewing: "I have yet to get a reliable answer from Rich about his drawing techniques. He guards those secrets like it was a matter of national security. What I do know is that he uses an outdated version of Adobe Illustrator and draws mostly on the computer over a pencil sketch with one of those round mice that came with the first iMac computers. The kind that gives you arthritis after ten minutes and leaves your hand shrivelled and gnarled like a mojo monkey paw that one has one wish left on it."

Okay, with that appetizing vision in mind, should I even bother to ask about your techniques? Or will you just throw feces on me with your mojo monkey paws?
There’s no mystery, Brian nailed it.

I usually sketch, scan, and then "ink" and color in Illustrator. Though I tend to just sketch more in Illustrator now as well, because I finally have better equipment.

All kidding aside, one of my favorite parts of your illustrations has got to be the great variety of font styles (see also above), ranging again from the gothic lettering to art nouveau characters or even to the glowing letters of a neon bowling sign and more. What is your approach for incorporating fonts and / or type into your pieces? Have you had any special training with same?
I think it’s all about matching the font to the mood. Especially if you deal in a lot of revival scenes. Certain fonts convey an attitude or nostalgia.

But all fonts covey a message in them and according to how you use them, they can then help direct the message you are trying to get across. I haven't had any formal training, just a ton of observation.

To a collection of what appear to be rather unique groups in your life: Who are the Pharaoh’s and also the Shotgun Players? How did you hook up with them?
The Pharaoh’s are the scooter group I was a member of.

And the Shotgun Players are a stage Theatre Group based in Berkeley that I am a part of (see below).

And finally, I’d be more than remiss for not mentioning the Hubba Hubba Revue. Now that is something we’re seeing pretty much everywhere and I was wondering about your own thoughts as to the revival of both the burlesque scene and even pin-up girls?
I think it’s great! People dig it, it brings me work and it gives people a creative outlet that would not otherwise have.

Still, I think the "everywhereness" of burlesque will be its downfall. I’m a believer in things ending, and I just think that anytime something goes on for too long, it suffers and becomes lackluster.

The hard part is knowing when to quit.

(input ZN: for a complete set of R.Black’s HHR ‘calendar’ pages from 2007-2009, see here or here ... but behave yourselves!)

If R.Black wasn’t doing what he’s doing today, what do you think you’d like to be doing instead?
Walking.

Almost finally, has anyone ever brought up the cool correspondence to your name and/or moniker with ‘rich black’ (to whit: ‘Rich black is often regarded as a color that is "blacker than black".’)? Sorry, but I’m old STInkie at heart (Support Team Inks... yes, we were geeks but we loved our inks...).
Only the smarty people mention that when they hear my full name.

If I was more clever when I was starting out I would of just used that, but maybe it would of been too obvious. There just seemed to be a ton of Richard Black's on-line, so it was really an Internet/search decision to go with ‘R’. A sign of the times, I guess.

And so finally, here’s your free space for any blatant self-promotion you’d like to do or any other topics you’d like to bring up. Go wild.
Pay for art, be it music, print, stage, or cinema, we appreciate it! Seriously.

And even though I’m horrible at updating my web-site, please check it out! Plus, because Facebook is easier to update, you can find newer work there under Rich Black.

Cheers and have fun!

ziggynixonziggynixonziggynixonziggynixon

There is little I can add to the accolades R.Black’s artistic skills have already received or provide a broader view the wide-range of his work besides what you can enjoy for yourself at his web-site or other already linked repositories of his releases.

And whether or not his illustrations are to your ‘taste’ or not, you really have to admire his ability to capture any and every kind of mood. Sure, it may strike you as a bit ‘creepy and kooky’, but us creepy and kooky folks have to stick together.

I would like to close with this input from one of the reviews of his collection ‘Futura: The Art of R. Black’ which describes R’s work as ‘Sparkling as polished chrome, slick as oiled leather, hard as a scorned woman's stare, (being) renowned for its elegant line, razor-sharp design, and dark pulp motifs, creating an instantly recognizable synergy of cool elegance and hot eroticism.’

I did ask R. if this was in his opinion a good characterization of his work – assuming that he hadn’t written that himself? Or would he have highlighted his style and / or accomplishments differently?

And in his typical, self-described ‘Cliff Notes’ style, he answered:
I did NOT write that, but it sounds great, no? Seems like a good summation, so let’s go with it!

ziggynixonziggynixonziggynixonziggynixon

All pictures, videos and other media are used with written permission of R.Black, or are available in the public domain (noting copyright and other restrictions, accordingly).

No further reproduction or duplication is permitted without contacting the artist directly.

Some pictures have been modified slightly or combined only for the purpose of space limitations.

A Book RevieweiveretnI – ‘Mucho Caliente!’ by Francesca Prescott

Ziggy Nixon takes a first-time crack at the exciting world of book reviewing!
Click on any image to enlarge it to original size

I recently read a pal o’ mine’s – namely the one and only Francesca Prescott – book ‘Mucho Caliente!’, which roughly translated for the family and folks I know from back ‘home’ means ‘good golly Miss Molly but that boy sure am fine!!!’ Pretty self-explanatory really (guys just think about meeting a girl with her own truck AND gun-rack ...).

Noting though that Francesca had somehow in the past days broken into my house and stolen my pet snake, threatening to have it permanently straightened in carbonite unless I gave her an honest assessment (that’s just a joke)(it was an iguana), we exchanged a few niceties and even some not-so-niceties about her literary offeratations.

On her agreement then, I have turned our e-conversation into this week’s episode of ‘Fresh Ziggy’. Don’t worry though, Francesca was as nice as she could be and I’m only pushing her ‘attitude’ a bit here to liven the conversation.

If you aren’t quite able to follow all of this, well, then buy the book silly ones! Just make sure and have plenty of nice cold water on stand-by …

FP: So Zigs, did you finish my book? (oh yeah, your iguana says ‘hi’!)
I have indeed. In fact, I just finished ‘Mucho Caliente!’ about 2 hours ago on the train. I confess, I got hooked into the final scenes and tried my best to make it to the disco ‘Purple Banana’ last night before my eyes just gave out (wow, talk about your double entendres!! Or is that just for poor schlubs like me that, quote, ‘ain’t gettin’ much these – or any other – days?’).

Anywho (or is that anywhom?), despite being the macho guy that I am (ha!), I said ‘damn the torpedoes’ (okay, we should stop with the male-appendage puns) and brought the book with me this morning for my commute.

Emilio Caliente would look sexy riding a donkey along a hillside track. So it’s hardly surprising that when he pulls up... I almost have an orgasm.

Again you should be flattered, as I was definitely risking the advances of the scores of, um, nice-boys-that-tend-to-love-their-mothers-very-much that ride in on the train and even curious glares from the wide assortment of cantankerous oldies that make up my regular train companions. Funny crowd really: one stop we pick up dozens of sashaying ‘dudes’ heading for an exciting day in the high-risk world of wholesale perfume, then a few miles later pick up what appears to be a group from a branch-off of some odd Texan cult. Sorry, that was redundant, wasn’t it?

FP: But you made it through the last pages okay, no?
Oh definitely and thank goodness for Nordic cold fronts, too! Otherwise, I might have melted through my nylon winter-proof boxer-shorts.

Yes, despite the inkling of my misgivings (ooh, that’d make a good song title), I did survive, even if I did manage to share a seat once again with the same poor woman as last week. This dear sweet ‘oh I really want to strangle her’ matron of moaning apparently can’t open up about her life to anyone until she boards a damn train (leading me as well to decide that ‘noise reduction headphones’ go right to the top of my wish list for the coming holiday season). I can tell you that I had to really bite my tongue to avoid shouting out, ‘Good gods, woman, if you’re so damned frustrated about everything in your staid little existence, do something about it!’

But no, who am I kidding? What would she have to talk about then if all were fixed? I do confess though to having been quite pleased to surreptitiously catch her victim, I mean, pal rolling her eyes and sighing to herself more than once!

Once Miss Sweden, not only can Kirsten cause fatal accidents when she walks down the street, she’s also one of the kindest, sweetest people I’ve ever met.

FP: Uh, can we get back to the book, please?
Ah yes, the book, back to the book! Listen to me; I’m starting to even pick up the mental muse-anational (word?) characteristics of your main character Gemma. Then again, I guess if we couldn’t have literally been able to read her thoughts, it wouldn’t have much of a book, would it?

FP: Zigs…
Okay, okay! First, foremost and for evermore, I really enjoyed the book! It met my one true requirement in terms of literature, cinema or anything else that I can find time for these days in that it provided a fun few hours of escape and even made me think about other aspects of my life as well.

Well done and thank you!

FP: All right now, you can remove your lips from my derriere please. What did you REALLY think? And remember, be nice … or the iguana swims with the fishies!
Wait wait, please don’t be rash!! (Wait a minute, can’t iguanas swim anyway?)(FP: sh, keep going)(Okay…)

You do have to promise though to accept the coming comments as coming truly from my heart. I am not going to necessarily hold anything back but before you pull a ‘handbag in the helicopter’ (ZN: in her book, this implies getting loudly sick into someone ELSE’S very expensive designer label purse) or any other kind of wobbly wobbler actions, I think ultimately that you’ll be happy with me after this is done:

To begin, I have to admit that reading the book was awkward at first for two reasons.

FP: Go on.
One, of course, is that I know you albeit in a platonic, electronic way: Granted, we have shared tales of bodily fluidations (the gross kind versus the sexy kind) and body fat issues with one another … but chatting is somehow a weak substitute for the real ‘hang out with my buds’ kind of thing. Sure, I know you think your feet are big and you know that my, uh, belly is on the large side, too, but you know...

It’s just that I sometimes had the feeling that I was intruding on things that maybe I hadn’t been cleared for in terms of having the needed security passes or something. Like walking in ‘accidentally’ into the women’s shower for like the two dozenth time in one week (which doesn’t count anyway if you don’t get caught and / or are not convicted).

FP: Fair enough, please continue.
Plus, I got the feeling sometimes that you were standing behind me, nervously pacing back and forth and asking, ‘Well? What do you think? Jennifer Aniston as Celeste or Gemma? Your call!’

Hm, that makes me think I COULD be a book publisher. Get to read at work, hot writer babes like you hanging out and getting all worked up in my office… hm, indeed.

The question I can’t seem to stop asking myself is: why me? He could have anyone. Surely, a voyage through Gisele Bundchen’s taught typography would deliver more of a frisson than a potter around my squidgy bits?

FP: (sighs loudly)
And speaking of looking over someone’s shoulder, I couldn’t shake the feeling either of somehow being an invisible albeit concerned and even curious angel glancing about. I kept thinking I had jumped out of the screen from Wim Wender’s original ‘Wings of Desire’ sans Peter Falk. Definitely sans Peter Falk.

I think this is because, well, because I am a man of the male persuasion. Yes, it’s true, sorry to drop that on you like that. I’m (gasp) a guy … straight even (just look at me: unfashionably dressed, I don’t use any facial care products at all and I’m not the slightest bit in shape) … always have been, too. But honestly, this has to be the first ‘as told from a woman’s perspective per se’ book I’ve ever read. Not that it made me feel feminine, it’s just... well, to be honest I haven’t ‘listened’ to a woman for that long at one sitting in a LONG time (my marriage having reached that 'comfortable' point where we communicate primarily via grunts and notes left taped on the television or the fridge to make sure the other sees it).

Sure, I’ve read books by plenty of women authors, most notably in my mind perhaps being Anne Rice and Ursula K. Le Guin. There have even been others that perhaps best said ‘dwelt’ on various women’s thoughts, but more so from a distant third person perspective. Rather than writing ‘oh why did he fall in love with me of all people?’ it’s been more ‘and she thought to herself ‘oh why did he fall in love with me of all people’…’

Does that make sense?

FP: Probably not, but let’s push ahead.
Another way of putting it would be that I often felt like I was ‘spying’ in some way on the girls. That I had stumbled into the kitchen during the chat hour (guys out on the patio of course scratching, burping and farting to the beat of some unheard native drums [it’s important to have hobbies that you enjoy and are good at]). It just felt that I was included on an intimate ride with the various characters as they journeyed through their fears, joys, insecurities, orgasms, insecurities, insecurities and even quite often insecurities.

‘Aïe, que passa aqui? Why are you crying Gemma?’ Aagghh. Why indeed? Because I’m a confused, pathetic woman who in the past 24 hours has developed an insane crush on a twenty-something-year-old pop star with swivel hips.

Granted I was a spy that didn’t have the suave charm of a James Bond, as I often would notice that I had become slack-jawed during various scenes, again, referencing my question about ‘do women really have that much going through their heads when they have sex … or go to the bathroom, or cook breakfast?’ etc. I even chuckled once out loud and said under my breath ‘no wonder it’s so bloody difficult to please them sometimes!’ Yes, indeed, so much to get distracted about, it’s a wonder they can even wait until the guy is finished before they jump up and have to telephone their friends again.

I mean be fair! Men’s thoughts at that time run along the lines of either ‘oh man, I can’t wait to tell the guys about this’ or even ‘no wait, think about fat soccer players, not too quick, oh fiddlesticks, oh what was his name, the ugly one, oh shit, it’s not working, I can’t stop it, oh well, here I go aaaaaaaaarrrrrrhhhh! Oh god oh god oh god… zzzzz’ Blonk (cue deeeeep sleep).

Guys are just not complicated like that. Again, maybe a surprise for you after reading about your own romance on your web-site, but still. I did find myself sometimes going ‘well, duh’ or even ‘jeez, woman, just call him already!!’ Or even more often than not, ‘no way! Do ‘they’ really do that’, they being pronounced as if I’ve discovered a new species deep in the jungles of Brazil (even though in retrospect, I wish I had read this back when I was 16, it might have made the next decade a little less confusing). So there was that.

What’s wrong? Nothing is wrong. Nothing is wrong right now. Everything is perfect. Too perfect. This bubble in which I’m living is going to burst. Reality threatens. Reality beckons. He’s not in love with me! He can’t possibly be!

FP: This is an odd book review if you don’t mind me…
Wait, don’t interrupt me, I’m on a roll: in terms of book reviewing (I have that statement on a Post It on my computer screen so that I don’t lose track here), I am going to risk having my worker’s permit cancelled by providing a couple of comments:

One: If this is indeed your first significant writing effort (sorry don’t have your CV and despite your fears, I have not carried out an extensive search into your background), then wow, you have real potential.

FP: Look, lay off or I’m going to call my husband in here!
No joke!! And I just wanted to make that statement as short and direct as I could, professionally speaking.

Two: But another thing I did notice that your style changed slightly throughout the course of the book. I don’t know if that came more from the forced editing you had to eventually conduct or what, but as ‘time’ went on, the styling definitely became much more refined and the flow much smoother. Maybe that was necessitated by the story to get things set up, but I almost got the impression that the first 50 to 60 pages or so were from one summer’s ‘go at it’ and the rest from a few months later.

If anything, I would say your style ‘matured’ as the book progressed. Which I hope you understand is indeed a compliment (do women want to be told they’re maturing? Oh gosh, I’m so insecure now, I need to call my friends to see what they would do. Aaargh, see what you’ve done?).

FP: Wow, that was very close to being insightful.
I’ll ignore that, thankyouverymuch.

Three: By far though, you have a clear strength in terms of your character building. Only one other author in recent memory has involved my interest in a group of people, animals, and fantasy beings with long or whatever like you and your team did. You truly have a gift for creating a sense of … well, not really ‘sympathy’ per se (it makes them sound too soppy that way) … but I found myself liking them – or even say being interested in them in case of the different rat-finks present.

Richard sulked in his office with Dow Jones. My eccentric, spontaneous nature – now in serious jeopardy due to my desire to please him and do the right thing – no longer amused him. It just drove him mad.

I guess that pretty much means Gemma’s ex-husband, Richard, noting that at least I found his new girlfriend – Billie’s – ‘acting’ to be very strong for her part for often very different reasons. You know, it’s like seeing someone from Hollywood that you’ve watched play a really horrible person in a film and you realize during a later interview that you still have a bad taste in your mouth for them personally, even though they were just acting for godssake!

Even brief forays into such characterizations as the Spanish macho man that worked on the boat and played in the band, Jorge (pronounced ‘Steve’) or DJ Bonk (I kid you not fans: he’s more pierced than Angelina Jolie AND he gets perhaps the hottest babe present in the end) were fun. And even with this – all done lickety split where and when needed – again nothing was taken away from the story-line nor the overall rhythm to the events.

“No way!” spits Billie, her acid blue eyes detonating into his. “I give you an opportunity to impress people with your new material. And what do you do? You attack my boyfriend and then run off with his old goat of an ex-wife in front of the entire world! You’re not even intelligent enough to have an affair with someone who looks good in the tabloids!”

FP: Okay, I’m going as far now as to give the iguana a piece of lettuce. But tell me truthfully; was there anything you did NOT like so much?
If I had to point out any one ‘issue’ with your writing that I found … how do I say this? … distracting, it would be your use of metaphors. Granted it got a little better as the story went on, but I found myself wondering sometimes if every audience you COULD be reaching would understand bits.

Just as an example, this morning you referred to Kevin striking a ‘Johnny Bravo’ pose as he sidled up all macho like as part of Gemma’s take-over posse when they head off for the final face-down with her ex’s girl (+/-) friend. Okay, as a huge fan of Cartoon Network, I got it (‘no honey, I’m only watching so that the kids’ English gets better!’). Well, at least that’s how I understood it (or is one of your pals really named Johnny Bravo? Or is this some kind of European 80’s trivia I don’t know about?).

I wanted my first time to be perfect. I wanted candles, love songs in the tape deck and the three magic words whispered over and over in my ear. Kevin came through for me on all these aspects. His performance was flawless and he forever established himself in my heart as the yardstick to which all men must measure up... and yardsticks the size of Kevin’s are hard to come by.

Also, with friends from all over the Queen’s fair lands to the West (including as far West as Ireland, whoa), I got some of the general British bits as well. My question really then is more for you as someone SELLING your story.

It’s kind of like asking yourself: what about the little Southern belle from Charlotte, North Carolina that is looking to live vicariously through Gemma, even though her biggest fantasy rests with the youth minister at her church who’s probably gay anyway, who she dreams about as her four kids scurry around making noise and untold mess at the annual Myrtle Beach ‘vacation’ with her fat arse of a cigar-smoking husband (‘…ye gods’, she thinks, ‘why did I get married and pregnant right away at age 18?’)?

So you see, if you’re kind of going ‘huh?’ to that analogy, maybe you can see how others might react to some of your own ‘oh, that reminds of me of…’ moments.

The effect of his voice on my body is like the sun on chocolate. It’s disgusting. It’s delicious. I melt into the mattress.

FP: That’s funny really. You know one of my best buddies and biggest fans is actually from Myrtle Beach! But I understand completely what you mean!
Look, no pouting, it’s not a major deal, honest! And I think the only reason it even occurred to me is through my background in preparing technically oriented promotional materials for use in a global environment.

Yes, everything we had to do was in English, but we even had an exercise where we’d shut the doors (tightly!!) and read bits out loud in faux Indian or Japanese or Chinese or other accents. Even the slightest misplaced adjective can lead to real issues down the road. And you learn real quickly, too, when and where to use such phrases as ‘Fried Rice’ (transposing then into ‘flied lice’) and the such.

FP: Um, you wanna start wrapping this up?
Here goes, my absolute, bottom-let’s-put-three-lines-under-it summary: ‘Cesca: thank you for sharing this with me! An incredibly solid effort and a fun read to boot!

You are obviously not only a very talented and gifted writer, but a very caring, fun-loving and passionate person. And it shows in what you’ve brought to us all! Your book just makes me glad that I’ve met you and makes me want to meet even more of your friends besides just Roseline (see bio for details).

I’m also in an interesting way feeling really proud of what you’ve accomplished … and yes, more than a little envious that you had the ‘balls’ to go for it in the first place!! I will leave you with my continuing honesty and say that I can’t wait for your next jaunt into the literary realms and wish you all the luck in the world!!!

FP: Thanks Zigs. You’re the best.
Aw shucks, I bet you say that to all the ego-centric blog writers you meet via Facebook…

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All kidding aside sports fans, Francesca Prescott is a lovely person both outside and particularly inside. It has been a real pleasure getting to know her. If you must know, we met electronically after I featured an Ibizian pal of hers, Roseline de Thelin, in my usual design oriented rantings.

Born in London, Francesca has lived in the beautiful lake and Alpine surroundings of Switzerland near Geneva since an early age. She is surrounded by her equally lovely family, several horses and at least one mud-seeking dog (we’ve lost count), which is akin to a heat-seeking missile only the dog(s) cause more damage. Her book ‘Mucho Caliente!’ is a great voyage (said naturally with a French accent) into the world of a young woman’s escape into a new future. We can not wait until Francesca is ready to go ‘live’ with her next offering and wish her all the best in her future endeavours!

Now, please, fair is fair!! Can I have my iguana back?