So…Along Came a Heroine
When Another One, Book 1 of The Parker Trilogy, was nearly done, I had a decision to make: do I or don't I bring Maggie Kincaid, a key character from another book (The Snow Globe), into the story? The laughable part was that I thought I had a choice in the matter. Maggie, on the other hand, knew full well she wasn't done. She made the decision for me the minute I decided to make sex trafficking the main crime theme of the trilogy.
That's the interesting part about writing these stories: they take on a mind of their own. There's an odd twist at the end of The Snow Globe that just so happened to put Maggie Kincaid and Detective Evan Parker on a collision course…long before I decided that Parker would even have his own trilogy. When I was writing Another One, I reached out to my editor with my idea and she almost fell out of her chair. A psych thriller character crossing over into a supernatural crime thriller series? It just might work.
But here's the thing…while working with Safe Horizon during The Snow Globe promo for Books on the Subway last October? My research on stalking and domestic abuse crossed over into the dark world of sex trafficking. Before long, I began to uncover some disturbing facts. For instance, every year, 10 million people worldwide are sold into the sex trade (prostitution or forced pornography), 96% of whom are female. I decided that I wanted to have part of the story in the new trilogy call attention to this horrific problem.
But if this was going to be the center “crime piece” of the trilogy, then I wanted someone there to represent women with a strong and firm hand…otherwise, the whole thing could end up only being a story with females as victims. I needed a true heroine. In short? I needed Maggie. Joining her are some new characters: Agent Olivia Clopton of the F.B.I., C.I. Agent Anush Sharma with The Internal Revenue Service and a certain female samurai from The Fasano Trilogy that some of you may remember.
In six weeks, One Way or Another (Book 2 of The Parker Trilogy) will release. If you haven't read Another One (Book 1) yet? It's time. If for no other reason than to be ready for what's coming next. Because Maggie thinks it'll knock your socks off. Honestly, she told me to tell you so 🙂
Thanks for reading,
Tony
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
The manuscript for One Way or Another was just sent to my editor in the U.K. for a final copy edit.
The cover design for One Way or Another, also being done in the U.K. by the awesome Andrew Brown of Design for Writers, begins tomorrow.
MIDWEST BOOK REVIEW: Pleased and humbled to share the review published earlier this month by Midwest Book Review for The Snow Globe: “A simply riveting read from cover to cover, “The Snow Globe” demonstrates author Tony Faggioli's genuine gift for narrative-driven storytelling of the first order.”
