Andy Warhol Was Right, Kinda

Andy Warhol had a famous quote, which goes: "In the future, everyone will be famous for fifteen minutes." And while I'm hardly famous, I did get FIVE minutes in the local paper last Friday, which means Andy was at least 1/3 right. :) Anyway, since this is my hometown newspaper, it was a pretty big deal for me. So here's the article, and the photo that ran with it:

5 Minutes With Terri Garey, Tampa Novelist

Published: Jun 22, 2007

Tampa native Terri Garey has raised three children and worked with computers. But what she really wanted was to write novels. Years of effort will pay off Aug. 28, when Avon Books publishes "Dead Girls Are Easy." The novel stars Nikki Styx, a woman who finds she can see and hear the dead after she has a near-death experience. There are also a romance (with her doctor) and a murder mystery. It's funny and creepy.
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It says in your autobiography you were into "The Twilight Zone" and "Dark Shadows" as a kid, and also you had a crush on Rod Serling. A crush?
He was a pretty handsome guy! He had that dark hair, and I've always had a thing for the dark-haired guys. I liked all those shows - "Shock Theater" on Friday nights and "Creature Feature" on Saturday afternoons with Dr. Paul Bearer. I just absolutely loved him and the sheer campiness of what he did. I think that had a huge influence on me.
I really loved the idea that you could be scary and also make people laugh at the same time.

Which is what you do with your book.
That's good to hear because that was my goal.

At what point did you decide, "Hey, I want to write a
novel?"
I've always loved to write and always loved to read. It wasn't until about six years ago that I really got serious. I had more time because the kids had grown up.
I had an unfinished novel under the bed, and my husband said, "You should take it out and finish it." So I did. It was horrible.

So I wrote three more, and really started studying the publishing industry and participating in writing conferences and writing contests. I sent out my novels and got a nice fat stack of rejection slips. But I kept trying.

Which book is "Dead Girls Are Easy" for you?
Five. And I have since written the sequel ("Where the Ghouls Are," to be released May 1, 2008).

Why the interest in the afterlife and dead people?
Well, I hope you won't think I'm crazy, but my family has had a paranormal experience. We lived in a haunted house.

I don't think you're crazy.
No, you think I'm insane!

Before we bought our house, we were renting a house [in Palma Ceia]. My stepdaughter came to me one night, and she looked freaked out. I asked her what was wrong, and she said she had gone to the bathroom and while she was in there the bathroom door opened and the figure of a man appeared outside the door.

I asked her, "Why didn't you scream?" And she said it wasn't scary like a horror movie. The man just stood there and then sort of faded away. I asked a neighbor about the history of the house and found out there had been a murder-suicide there.
That was enough to convince me. We moved out a few months later. That was just too weird for me.

Kevin Walker/Tampa Tribune