Welcome to Julia Talbot joining us today to talk about new release “Night of the Living Manny”, part of Dreamspinner Press’Dreamspun Beyond series.
Hey y’all!
I’m Julia Talbot, and I’m here to chat today about Night of the Living Manny, my new paranormal category romance from Dreamspinner Press!
Manny is a mix of the manny (or male nanny) trope and an homage to the zombie movie, especially Shaun of the Dead. That’s right, folks, we’re using the zed word, and we’re proud of it.
OMG y’all. Shaun of the Dead was such a seminal moment for me in my zombie love. I wasn’t into horror (excepting Stephen King) and I didn’t get the zombie thing until this movie came out. I loved it so because it was funny! It was referential. It was SMART.
I do love a smart movie. I love something that surprises, and also makes me burst out with a duck noise guffaw on occasion.
So when the Dreamspun Beyond category came up, I immediately thought zombies. Now, I had to write a few other stories first, so I let the zombie thing germinate, let it gently grow. I knew I didn’t want gore. I wanted suspense, yeah, but not urk. We all have enough stress these days. I also wanted funny. So while I think Night of the Living Manny is wholly mine, it’s an homage to Shaun of the Dead. I think (hope) it’s funny, suspenseful, and yeah, a little genre referential.
It’s amazing how that movie had a slew of movies to quote and go back to. Day of the Dead. Dawn of the Dead. Evil Dead. Watch the movie with the information captions on instead of the closed captions, and you can see all the sources. But now we have a whole new set to look back on, from Resident Evil to the Walking Dead. It’s kind of cool, and kind of an honor to count myself now among all the people who’ve dipped their toe into the zombie category.
There’s kids, a scientist, a manny, a giant Newfoundland, and the shambling dead. What could possibly go wrong?
I hope y;all will give Night of the Living Manny a chance!
XXOO
Julia
Blurb:
Something besides love is growing…
Manny Brenden Torrance is good at his job. He’s dealt with all sorts of children and parents, but he’s never met anyone as intriguing as Liam Whitehouse. Liam is a scientist with three kids, whose job is keeping him away from home more and more. That’s where Brenden steps in to help.
Liam has secrets, though. He’s working on a project for a pharmaceutical lab that could change disease management. Or destroy it. While he and Brenden start a romance they both want to continue, things at Liam’s job come to a head, and suddenly the whole family of Dad, manny, three kids, and a big drooly dog is on the run from the one thing that might keep Brenden and Liam apart. And infect the world.
Links:
Stories that leave a mark. Julia Talbot loves romance across all the genders and genres, and loves to write about people working to see past the skin they’re in to love what lies beneath. Julia Talbot lives in the great mountain and high desert Southwest, where there is hot and cold running rodeo, cowboys, and everything from meat and potatoes to the best Tex-Mex. A full time author, Julia has been published by Dreamspinner, All Romance Ebooks, and Changeling Press. She believes that everyone deserves a happy ending, so she writes about love without limits, where boys love boys, girls love girls, and boys and girls get together to get wild, especially when her crazy paranormal characters are involved. She also writes BDSM and erotic romance as Minerva Howe. Find Julia at @juliatalbot on Twitter, or at www.juliatalbot.com “The mountains are calling, and I must go”
https://www.facebook.com/juliatalbotauthor
I love the plot of this book. Plus the idea of zombies and a manny (especially with guffaws in the background). Now I’m going to have to check out the movie, too!