Monday, February 25, 2013

Locks of Love Pass It Around


 

 



I know some of you are familiar with Locks of Love and there are some of you that aren’t. And the majority of you are scratching your head: how has this got anything to do with your latest book Devil’s Concubine?

Well, it has some bearing on the book. We are dealing with people who are getting scalped remember? When I did my research for a place to send hair to be made into wigs the one place that popped up on the computer screen was Locks of Love. I had heard about Locks of Love through various organizations but wasn't thoroughly up to speed on the how and what they did. Just brief information which I knew was wigs for disadvantage children. Anything more than that I was unaware of.

So with my trusty computer I went on the search to find out more about the organization. Really to see how it worked so I could base a scene in Devil’s Concubine. Moments later I was reading everything about this non profit organization and was not only learning how it operated but how it helped thousands of children. I read about their interesting organization which I informed a few of my long-haired friends, especially the ones who were thinking of cutting their hair short and they kindly donated to the cause after my research. I’m very proud of those friends.

Even though I used a fictitious name for my Locks of Love in Devil’s Concubine, it was the same basis as Locks of Love. It was a brief moment in the book that this was used, but still I wanted to share Locks of Love with you because it’s a worth-while mission.

Let me explain about Locks of Love. Locks of Love, is a public non-profit organization that provides hair pieces to financially disadvantaged children under the age of 21. This group is trying to restore a sense of self, confidence and normalcy to children who are suffering from hair loss. I know it’s hard enough for adults to swallow when they lose their hair, but for a child who is growing up around other kids it’s extremely hard.

The names these children endure can be brutal. If Locks of Love can bring this to some child that is financially disadvantaged it lifts the burdens not only on the parents who can’t afford such and can only stand by and watch the ignorance of others, but lifts the emotional burden these children have to endure.

These children are not just cancer patients, they are also children with alopecia and burn victims. As a burn victim I understand the horrors and name-calling and the low self-esteem some of these children endure and any way we can help is important.

Now I know some of you reading this are genuinely interested so I thought it would be nice for my fans to get the opportunity to learn about this organization and perhaps interest you into a donation of some sort whether it be hair or financial.

To donate your hair they do have a few guidelines and they are simple and easy to follow.

Donated hair must be ten inches or longer. Curly hair may be pulled straight to meet the requirement.

Hair may not be bleached, chemically damaged or over processed; perm or colored hair is accepted.

Hair must be in the form of a clean, dry ponytail or braid. Sorry, but I was informed dreadlocks are not accepted.

Hair that is less than ten inches or grey is separated from the donation and sold to off set manufacturing costs.

Now that you know the guidelines to donating your hair here is the website to contact them about your donation
http://locksoflove.org/mission.html

Now if you can’t donate hair, and still would like to help, they will take financial donations and that is tax deductible.

In my research I discovered many notable donors such as Gabe Carmi (Chicago Bears first-round draft pick), George Parros (National Hockey League player) and Lamb of God drummer Chris. The list goes on.

I’m sure you have heard criticism for their practice in selling donated hair. Well as mentioned above they have guide lines and some of the unusable hair like bleached, highlighted, gray and hair shorter than ten inches are sold to offset the cost of custom wigs.

Now I know some of you are scratching your head and saying, “Well, Carla, this is all nice that you are talking about Locks of Love but what about your book? How does Devil’s Concubine come into play?”

This is my answer, sometimes our detective in this case Detective Gavin Reece is thrown down the wrong road to confuse him about who is killing people. We call this in the writing world a red herring. But sometimes a worthy organization puts things back into perspective and can point us in the right direction to catch a murderer.

So the next time you have decided to cut that long hair that goes down your back, think about donating it to Locks of Love and make a child’s day.

Want to purchase the latest book? Here's a link.

http://www.amazon.com/Devils-Concubine-Carla-Landreth/dp/1621417816/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1361803843&sr=8-1&keywords=carla+landreth



Monday, February 4, 2013

Indians Weren't the Only Ones


 

As part of my series to tease you about my latest book Devil’s Concubine, I thought one of the things we should discuss is scalping. Yes, the victims in my novel are scalped by a murderer. But since scalping is not heard of these days and if so, a rarity I thought we should take a look at why it was done and how it has some bearing on my latest novel Devil’s Concubine.

I wish I could say the American Indians were the ones that were the only ones to practice such horrific acts of scalping people, but evidence shows this is not true. Well, there went my history lesson from childhood.

Rumor has it and even evidence proves other races and nations were doing this practice way before some of my ancesters. What groups you ask? As far back as B.C, the Scythians were scalping their enemies. Some Anglo-Saxons, French, Persians and Visigoths, just to name a few were also doing this horrendous act. So since this practice wasn’t something new it made me wonder, why is it the American Indians always get the bad wrap on such?

I guess one of the first things we need to do is look how the procedure was done. It certainly wasn’t like one of those cheesy westerns we watched as a child. All I can say is thank goodness for film regulations at the time or the invasion of the frogs wouldn’t have been the only thing I feared as a child.

The method to this grisly practice was taking a tomahawk and striking the victim on the head, which usually killed them, if not you can imagine what the scene would have been. The Indian would then take his crude knife and make incision at the front of the forehead to around the back of the head. Then with a foot on the victim’s shoulder or back, pull off the scalp from back to front.

That was just the scalping. Once this step was done the Indian would attach this scalp he had obtained to his scalper’s belt. As he left he would give a death cry. Once back at his camp as they say or where ever he could go without being pursued, he would finish scrapping the skin from the scalp. He would make a hoop out of wood and stretch the skin over the hoop and put it in the sun.

He would comb the hair and paint the skin red before he attached this scalp to a stick. He would carry this stick home and you guessed it, the more scalps the better.

Now that was pretty gruesome, but imagine doing something like that now days? I could get more graphic but I believe you reading my book would be the benefit at this point. The question now if you did a modern day scalping, is why?

Once again I must look back at why this was done and this is what I discovered.

There were three reasons for scalping, one profit. You guessed it money, even then money played a part in this act. You sell a scalp back in 1703 for 12 pounds by the time we hit 1723 scalps going price was 100 pounds. The French did this mostly, but still there was a profit in these scalps. However, Indians still made money as well selling these items.

Second reason Power. Again you guessed it: somebody who had the most power had the most scalps. He must have been a good warrior to be able to come home with 8-10 scalps. The women must have swarmed around him.

The third had to do with war. These scalps were prizes and sometimes the most brutal Indians took body parts along with hair to show what they took from the enemy. Sometimes bounties were placed on such body parts. Of course give credit where it’s due on this. The practice of paying a bounty for a body part was a European idea.

Now that I have you engrossed, I should tell you a little about a modern scalping. Let’s see, our murderer decides to subdue you, by any means. He doesn’t kill you, holds you hostage, tortures you for some reason unknown, before he skins your head, not using a tomahawk but surgical tools that a skilled surgeon would use and leaves you to suffer. But don’t worry, you won’t suffer long before he decides to cut your throat.

Oh my, I have your attention now.

As I sketched out my story from all angles, one thing I had to focus on was my murderer. Yes, he is scalping victims and yes, I used the format I just explained earlier, except in Devil’s Concubine, our murderer isn’t an American Indian back in the old days, but a modern man with a way to hide his trophies from the world. And the way he hides things makes you think twice about your own hair.

My character is very careful in his acts of murder, but sometimes a murderer even has a heart. As does this one when he shows mercy by dumping his victims where they can be found. The question you will be asking yourself over and over throughout the whole book is why?

Could this murderer being doing this for profit? Is it for power he wants and gains over his victims? Or is it for a private war that has tormented him for years? Devil’s Concubine is a very sick and twisted tale of murder and one you will surely enjoy.