Archive for the ‘default’ Category

Novel Ideas or the essence of creating

Friday, August 6th, 2010

Where do ideas come from?  Imagine sitting in front of a blank computer screen and poof!.  A sudden stroke of serendipity?  Perhaps. but not likely.  The ideas for plot come from long before the moment of looking at a computer’s cursor.  Maybe they’re from many years ago,  Or maybe they have always been with you.  An example?

The Signs of Destiny’s plot originated in Las Palmas, Grand Canary Island during the 1963 Christmas vacation from Complutense University in Madrid. While there I met a young lady from Liverpool, England.  Her name was Lucy, and I helped her heist bananas out of a Swedish smorgasbord for her sister Rosalyn. Our association extended to Madrid and to New York.

One day, Lucy told me about a girlfriend who visited a Spiritualist (Fortune Teller) in the Burlington Arcade, and the woman revealed remarkable facts from the past but she refused to foretell the future.  However the girlfriend was persistent, and paid to learn her tragic destiny:  She would die a horrible death in her 24th year.

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A look inside the book “Rules of Engagement”

Monday, December 14th, 2009

Amusing, fun, and fast-paced, Rules of Engagement by new romance author C. Michael Bennis offers countless dramatic high notes and unforgettably naughty characters as it recalls the very essence of unbridled, wide-open passion. What begins as a timeless, torrid tale of young lust turns into a mid-life romp when two lovers are reunited twenty-two years after their tryst.

On summer holiday, Alec and Nicole meet at a London club soon after graduation. With nine days to explore each other’s body, they agree on the Rules of Engagement. The rules are simple. They agree not to fall in love and they agree not to reveal their identities. Nevertheless, despite their best intentions, their parting on the tenth day is devastating. Engaged to the premier’s son, Nicole feels as if she has no choice but to return to her native France to fulfill her duty and Alec, bent on making himself more than a hayseed ball player from Colorado, is certain he is out of his league. Years later on business, Alec, who has become an advertising wizard and bestselling author, comes face to face with this woman who he knows is the love of his life. After two decades of trying to forget the young lady that he was once unfit to marry, he feels as if the stars have finally aligned. The fact is that while there have been others no woman has ever held a candle to Nicole. While rules were made to be broken, in the case of Nicole and Alec, the question is will she bend the rules—or will he break them?
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An introduction…

Monday, May 25th, 2009

C. Michael Bennis has roots in a small Illinois town, named for Abraham Lincoln before he became president.  It was a child’s paradise with band concerts, parades, fairs and a vibrant downtown.  The father, Chuck, is one of twenty-five men elected to the University of Illinois All Century Football Team.  The mother, Jeanne Hott, is the sole daughter of a prominent Monticello, Illinois family, and a boarding school cover girl.

The author graduated from the University of Colorado, where he was a member of the 1962 Orange Bowl team.  He attended Complutense University in Madrid, and later lived there for eight years.  He also received a postgraduate degree from Thunderbird.

Bennis is a NYC Ad Sales veteran with national print magazines, and later served for many years as Director of Communications for the creative-play and developmental toy company–ALEX-Panline USA, Inc.  He currently lives with his wife Helen and their dogs in Tucson, Arizona where he writes full-time.

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