While I’m away, don’t want any readers getting bored.

Carrie agreed to do a guest blog for me so I now turn the floor over to her…

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How did I get from this…

To this?

Blame (or credit) Christian Slater.

Everyone has a collection of guilty pleasures, small or large–those things they do or eat or have just for the naughty, mindless fun of it. Mine include, among many others, cheese puffs, doughnuts, Bath & Body Works products, 80s pop music, “So You Think You Can Dance,” and Christian Slater.

As Shiloh pointed out, Christian Slater does not have the most savory of reputations. I know! He’s kinda…surly. But I’ve always been a sucker for his unusual onscreen blend of bad boy cool and sensitive loner. Really, it’s crazy. Girly hormones at their worst! Heathers, Pump Up the Volume, True Romance, Untamed Heart–yes, I’ve seen them all. Something about him caught my attention long ago and has yet to set me free.

In October of 2006, I had been prepared to start a book about the silent movie era, but my daughters checked out the Disney version of Robin Hood from the library. I was unwittingly sunk. I started thinking about how I hadn’t seen Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves in ages. It’s shlocky as all get out, but I love it–not for Kevin Costner or men in tights or even the delicious Alan Rickman, but because of Christian Slater.

I watched this clip (6:30 in) and felt an immediate affinity for him. Slater’s character, Will Scarlet, offers Marian a flower and asks her to dance. But Robin steps in and says the lady is spoken for. He barely glances in Will’s direction before running off with Marian. A complete snub! Will is left to watch them go, then fades into the darkness. Alone. I imagined that sort of condescension and disregard would eventually wear on a young man trying to come into his own, stuck in the shadow of a legend.

So whatever happened to Will Scarlet anyway?

I abandoned silent movie research and jumped feet-first into Sherwood lore. Eight months later, with my manuscript ready and appointments to pitch at Nationals, my girls and I were shopping on the day before I was to fly to Dallas. We found the Disney Robin Hood on DVD, newly released, and I bought it for them. For luck. I liked the symmetry of it, my project coming full circle. And because, well, I’d already long since bought Prince of Thieves for myself. Research, don’t you know?

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Thanks so much to Shiloh Walker for letting me drop by and ramble on a bit while she’s at RT. If you’d like to read more about my December Zebra Debut, What a Scoundrel Wants, the hot, swashbuckling tale of Will Scarlet and his dangerous lady love, please visit my website. Happy reading, everyone!

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