Drain You
M. Beth Bloom
Every night I'd lie there in bed and look out at the hills behind our house, listening. I knew there'd be consequences.
Actions meant reactions. Sunrises meant sunsets. My fear was too permanent, lasting longer than eyeliner, something I wore every day and didn't wash off.
Quinlan Lacey's life is a red carpet of weird fashions, hip bands, random parties, and chilling by the pool with her on-and-off BFF Libby. There's also her boring job (minimum wage), a crushed-out coworker (way too interested), her summer plans (nada), and her parents (totally clueless). Then one night she meets gorgeous James, and Quinn's whole world turns crazy, Technicolor, 3-D, fireworks, whatever.
But with good comes bad and unfortunately, Quinn's new romance brings with it some majorly evil baggage. Now, to make things right, she has to do a lot of things wrong (breaking and entering, kidnapping, lying, you name it).
There's normal, and then there's paranormal, and neither are Quinlan's cup of Diet Coke. Staying sane, cool, in love, and alive isn't so easy breezy.
Summer. The 90s. The rich, sun-bleached neighborhoods of the Los Angeles canyons. Enter Quinlan Lacey, a cool, bored, sarcastic, sexy 17-year old with a dull part-time video store job and a mild case of teen ennui. That is, until she meets the alluring, River Phoenix-esque James, and realizes the hills are alive with the undead. Inspired more by the early, dry L.A. short stories of Bret Easton Ellis than the current crop of serialized vampire fiction, the supernatural grunge romance, Drain You, narrates the headaches and heartbreaks Quinn undergoes in her quest to stay sane and cool and in love and alive.
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CHARACTER INTERVIEW
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M. Beth Bloom :Hey Quinn, what’s up?
Quinn: Um, nothing. Like, literally nothing.
MBB: What are you wearing today?
Q: A 4 Non Blondes concert tee with
black Levi’s cut-offs, ripped thigh-highs and Converse shandals. (That’s where you cut the rubber toe and
heels off yr Converse and turn them into flip-flops.)
MBB: What TV shows did you watch last
night? Any thoughts on them?
Q: At like 4 am Clarissa Explains It All was on Nick and awesomely it was the eppy
“Ferguson Explains It All” where evil bro Ferguson orders mind control glasses
and tries them out on the Darling family.
Classic Ferg-wad.
MBB: Any ‘gem’ commentary from your
parents lately?
Q: My mom just asked me what a
“playa” and a “playa-hater” were. So
embarrassing! She also told me I was
“cruisin’ for a bruisin’” which is like child abuse or something!
MBB: Who do you French, Marry, and
Murder: Leonardo DiCaprio, Johnny Depp and Tom Cruise? Why??
Q: If I say murder Tom Cruise, will a
spesh-ops ‘Tologist group pour poison in my ear while I sleep? If so, then pass-a-dena on that one. You obvi french Depp and marry DiCap. DiCap’s just gonna get puffier and more into
the Lakers which is sweet in this like, Electra Complex kinda way. Also, DiCap only dates models, and if he only
dates models and winds up marrying you, then ipso facto – you do the math. As for Depp, he’ll just lurva ya and leave
ya, so better get that french in before he spirals back to Wino 4 Ever.
MBB: Design your own super group 4 or
5-person band?
Q: Grohl on drums, Kim Deal on bass
and back-up vox, Chris Cornell on lead vox, Eric Erlandson on lead guitar,
Thurston Moore on rhythm guitar, and if it’s allowed Ian Svenonius as
dancer/romancer.
MBB: What literary character would be
the ultimate sleepover buddy?
Q: Normally I’d say Stacey from The Babysitter’s Club, but she’s
diabetic so we couldn’t have Diet Coke, which is a major sleepover
mainstay. I’d say Carrie from Carrie.
She can teach me how to flip through Sassy magazines using only my mind
and I can teach her how to seriously CHILL.
MBB: Free Jazz. Talk about anything
that’s on your mind. Literally. Anything:
Q: I just want to say that a
20-minute mile in P.E. does NOT mean you’re lazy or a candidate for Couch
Potato of the Year, and that you should flunk Phys Ed, okay? Maybe it just means you want to take yr
sweet-ass time, smell the proverbial roses, and gossip with yr best friend
about whether or not to roll Teen Spirit deodorant on yr face because yr so
sweaty after walking for twenty minutes.
Publisher's Weekly review Says: "Bloom debuts with a languid, stylish novel that reads like a love letter to cult vampire flicks like The Lost Boys, the work of Francesca Lia Block, and Southern California in the 1990s."
Buy Drain You now at Amazon and Barnes & Noble
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Click Banner To View Entire Tour Schedule "Bloom's first short story “Love And Other Catastrophes: A Mix Tape” was featured in Story Quarterly and selected by Dave Eggers for inclusion in The Best American Nonrequired Reading: 2003 (Houghton-Mifflin), which he curates annually. Bloom is the founder of underground dance label 100% Silk (profiled here in LA Weekly) AND the producer/lead singer of the band LA Vampires (written up in The Guardian as well as Pitchfork and Fader). Her next book will be published through HarperTeen. GIVEAWAY ************** |
