Becky Flade, Author

He watched as she weaved through the trees. Followed, silently, as she picked her way carefully along the dark path. She stopped, sat on a bench in the moonlight. She sighed and he ached. Lauren. It had been so long and he missed her. Yearned for her touch. Everything about her called to him but he stayed back. She was no longer his to hold. He knew she had moved on; that she loved another. "Hi Tommy, Happy Halloween.” Her whisper carried on the breezeless night. “I know it’s been a while but I needed to talk to you. I’m…” she paused. He drifted closer to the bench. “The man I’m seeing, Chase, he’s asked me to marry him.” Tommy didn’t think he could hurt any more. He’d been wrong. "I didn’t think I’d ever love anyone again after you; but I do. What Chase and I have, it’s different from what you and I had, but different doesn’t mean less. But now that I’m looking at forever, I find myself thinking more and more about us. About what could have been.” Lauren looked a

Editing: How do you do it? I think every writer has their own systems, habits, superstitions. Friday nights are reserved for writing with a glass of wine, watermelon sour patch kids and some rock ‘n roll. Yeah, it's kinda like that. ;) But even more important, perhaps, is my editing process. This is my pre-submission editing, before I pass to my betas, before I send to publishers, before I do any edits required by the publisher.   This is when I take my rough draft and polish it. I type THE END and spend the next couple days reading other author’s books. Like sorbet between gourmet courses, I cleanse my palate with the words, the images, created by others. Then I read my book, beginning to end, making the obvious changes, run spellcheck and grammar check, and read it again. Then it goes to my two favorite betas: my daughter Casey who is a fiend for typographical and grammatical errors – she has a vendetta against homophones – and my very good friend Jen who is

Some time ago I ran post titled Movie Adaptations: It was the Best of Times listing my favorite adaptations with the promise of the companion piece. I submit for your enjoyment It was the Worst of Times We all know the movie never does the book any justice. Here are the ones I think sucked big time: Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy,  do I need to explain WHY this one made the cut?  Ender's Game ; Flowers in the Attic  - no. Just no. Hell no; and  The Last Airbender.  Okay, yeah, I know Nickelodeon's Avatar was a cartoon and not a book. But flying hog monkeys it was deep, an excellent display of storytelling, and the live action movie was crap.  Nearly any feature film length adaptation of a Stephen King horror novel (not the adaptations of his dramatic short stories I praised in Best), to be fair, I haven't seen nor will I see the new It cause, ya know, clowns; and The Dark Tower would've been a fun/exciting movie if I hadn't read the boo

Family, friends, and fans: I am living my best possible life. My girls are happy and healthy, my grandbabies bring me so much joy. I've an amazing family and a network of friends who are like family. And my journey as an author has reached new heights: A LOVE RESTRAINED (book 1 in the Philly Heat Series ) is under consideration for movie adaptation; on October 8th, FALL TO PIECES (book 2 in the Philly Heat Series ) won the 2022 RONE Award for best suspense/thriller against some truly talented competition; and today YESTERDAY'S OVER (book 3 in the Philly Heat Series ) released worldwide. I'm already hard at work on book 4 in this series (tentatively titled BEAUTIFUL DANGEROUS ) and I'll be busy over the next few months with that, the survival job, the holidays, you know - life. If you don't hear from me much, that's why. But I'll be on social media if you miss me. Love big and read h

I'm not just a compulsive reader, I'm a fan of the screen both big and small. And let's face it - Hollywood starting running out of original ideas years ago. I'd rant about the gross plagiarism running rampant in the movie industry right now but will save my disgust over the current influx of remakes for another day. What does Hollywood do best? It adapts bestselling books into bestselling movies, of course. And today I'm talking about my favorites. Even the well done adaptations leave something to be desired; movies just cannot recreate the emotional bond a reader develops with the characters in a book. But these few, in my opinion, came damn close:   The Princess Bride movie pulls dialogue directly from the book by William Goldman. But some stuff had to go for time: the chapters detailing the back stories of Inigo and Fezzik; along with the Zoo of Death (their rescue of the Dread Pirate Roberts involved more daring do than simply knocking the

PREORDER NOW FOR ONLY $1.49 Releases Worldwide 18-October-2022 Following a massive explosion in South Philadelphia, rescue workers discover aged skeletal remains. Assistant Chief Medical Examiner Gertrude "Trudy" Beasley calls in forensic anthropologist Doctor Benjamin Roberts to assist. It doesn't take them long to realize they've uncovered a former serial killer's old burial ground. But someone alive today will kill to keep those secrets buried . https://www.amzn.com/B0BFXJJ67C 💀  EXCERPT  💀 The smell of charred flesh overwhelmed the scent of antiseptic and the industrial cleaner used to keep the room sterile. It resembled any other medical suite in any other medical facility, gurneys, tools, staff in scrubs, but unlike those other rooms, there was no sense of urgency in Trudy’s morgue. The reduced temperature preserved organic material. It preserved the odor as well. It didn’t go away despite the air purification system. Trudy’s eyes and nostrils bu

Check out this article by Philly Voice magazine Some time ago, but not so long ago, my cousin’s wife sent me a copy of an ad she saw on craigslist – a couple were looking to unload their hand-crafted BDSM play room. This confused me. Why would she be sending me this? And that’s what I asked her. “I know you read the Fifty Shades books.” Was her answer, to which I replied, “I also read the Hannibal Lecter books. Want to come over for dinner Saturday?” She laughed.   And the awkward moment was over. But this interaction has lingered on the edges of my subconscious since. Why is there such a stigma on romance, especially erotic romance? No one assumes I’m a cannibal because I read Thomas Harris’ books. Or that I practice witchcraft since I’ve read the Harry Potters. That I abuse my children (I have every book by V.C. Andrews); or intend to kill all my neighbors in a televised fight to the death (Hunger Games). I have eclectic taste in books, as evidenced by my extens

Have you ever heard the old adage: WRITE WHAT YOU KNOW? Taken literally this would mean the end of fiction as we know it; and our judicial system would grind to a halt stymied with a plethora of libel suits. What a boring, gray dull world that would be. However, a writer should, less literally, write what she or he knows. [And I’m talking fiction here, ‘cause fiction is what I do. Well actually I’m a paralegal by trade, writer by wiring, so I guess I do both and the non-fiction pays better, but I don’t love it. I love the fiction. Let’s stick to that.]