 The Four Redheads of the Apocalypse was co-authored by myself, Linda L. Donahue, Rhonda Eudaly and Dusty Rainbolt. We came up with the idea during ArmadilloCon a few years back. We all write for Yard Dog Press,
a small but fierce publishing house based in Alma, Arkansas.
Their best-selling series is the Bubbas of the Apocalypse
anthologies. During the weekend, Rhonda started calling us the Four
Redheads of the Apocalypse. On the drive back (we'd had about
three hours of sleep between us all weekend), we got to thinking it was
a great title. By the time we got back to the Dallas area we all
call home, we had an outline. We based several of the characters
on friends. For example, Satan is patterned after our fearless
leader, Yard Dog publisher and editor-in-chief Selina Rosen.
While discussing ways to promote the book with Selina, someone
suggested doing a skit, with Selina playing Satan and the four of us
playing our characters. Selina said she would do it, but she
wouldn't wear the high-heeled boots we described Satan wearing.
Then she said, "No wait. If you all sell 200 books, I'll
wear the boots." (200 books is pretty good sales for a chapbook).
Later the bet evolved to if we sold 300 books, Selina would wear
the boots and
a miniskirt. Thanks to the assistance of Midwestern
and Southwestern fandom, especially the FenCon concom, we sold over 300
books in four months, with almost all the saleYacoming at conventions.
Currenly, The Four Redheads of the Apocalypse has sold over 800
copies.
Left
to right - Julia Mandala (Famine), Rhonda Eudaly (Death) Dusty Rainbolt
(Plague- Pestilence), Linda Donahue (War), Selina Rosen (Satan)
We've been pleased that sales continue to be good even after the bet was over.
In 2010, the four of us finished a novel-length sequel, entitled The Four
Redheads: Apocalypse Now! If you think it's hard for two people
to collaborate, try it with four. Instead of writing individual
novellas on the same theme, all the plot lines are interwoven and
run simultaneously. Yes, that was challenging. But we're
all still friends <g>. The novel is now out from Yard Dog Press.
Coming in early 2012, we will have Redheads in Love, another novel in four viewpoints. The Four Redheads have found a new
level of fine print in the contract that saddled them with their dead
husbands' jobs as The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. If they can
find men who are acceptable to God and Satan, and who are willing to
marry them, those men will become the Horsemen and the Redheads are
free of their burdens. Men beware! The Redheads are on the prowl.
|
|
