About the Author


Me? What about me? What do you really need to know? I’m not sure what you want to know, so I will let my “para” personality conduct an interview for you.

Immortal Diva: What kind of person are you?
Lynda: Well, I am a pretty normal character. I have a terrific husband, who happens to be a chef! (Great, because I don’t like cooking!) I am a “Mom”. I really love that title. Our 15-year old son is like this adult lawyer trapped in a little kid’s body. He has the tenacity of a pit bull. Our daughter, at 13 years old, is catching up to my typing speed really fast. I think she’ll be published before I am.  She already runs her own website!

Immortal Diva: Do you have any pets?
Lynda: What a wonderful peek into a family’s character, I think. We have a pet bird. Taco is a double-yellow headed Amazon parrot. He loves singing “I’m in the mood for love.” He sometimes asks the very funny question, “I’m a bird?” His latest phrase is: “What are you lookin’ at?!”

Immortal Diva: What triggers your sweet tooth?
Lynda: The world is definitely a much better place with…caramel. I love anything with caramel: Hershey’s Caramel Treasures; Starbucks Caramel Frappuccino; Starbucks Caramel Macchiato; Caramel flan. You get the point.

Immortal Diva: What are your TV Show addictions?
Lynda: There are plenty of shows to enjoy right now, but my Fab Five:  Boston Legal reruns – It’s deliciously ribald, and I think the dialogue in this show is just brilliant.  American Idol – I love it when they get to the top 12. I can’t watch during the “bad singing” ones.  I admit that I was a HUGE fan of Adam Lambert!  I can’t wait for his first album!!  Nanny 911 – I’m a mother of two kids. Nanny 911 is my therapy time!!

Immortal Diva: What kind of movies do you watch?
Lynda: I love movies. I REALLY love movies. Every Saturday is my “veg” day, which I tend to spend watching movies all day long! So, we’ll have to break this into specific categories. After all, if you’re reading this list, you are trying to figure out what terrible….I mean, wonderful…movies helped to warp an otherwise normal mind.

Immortal Diva: What are your Top Ten Favorite Adventure, Science-Fiction, or Fantasy Movies?
Lynda:

  • The Lord of the Rings Trilogy
  • Star Wars (the ORIGINAL trilogy)
  • Underworld & Underworld Evolution
  • Alien (I and II are my favorites)
  • Krull
  • Labyrinth
  • Legend
  • The Last of the Mohicans
  • The Highlander (movies and tv series)
  • The Mummy & The Mummy Returns
  • Pirates of the Caribbean Trilogy
  • The Matrix Trilogy
  • Indiana Jones Trilogy ….oops, I went past 10. That’s easy to do in this category!



Immortal Diva: What are your Top Ten Favorite Romantic Comedy Movies:
Lynda: Nothing on this list is very recent, but these are all classics to me. I can watch all of them over and over and over again.

  • The Princess Bride
  • Four Weddings and a Funeral
  • My Big Fat Greek Wedding
  • Working Girl
  • Pretty Woman
  • Overboard
  • Destiny
  • Moonstruck
  • Arthur
  • Mystic Pizza
  • Ever After …oops, over 10 again.



Immortal Diva: I hear you LOVE Anime! What are your favorite Anime movies and shows?
Lynda: You can’t have kids without watching some form of cartoon these days. But, I must confess, that my love of anime began years before kids. I love the glut of Anime out there. And the American animators are finally catching up with the Japanese.

  • Spirited Away – I adore anything by Hayao Miyazaki, but this one was my favorite!
  • Yu-Gi-Oh – Loved the Egyptian themes!!
  • Avatar, The Last Airbender – How can you not want to squeeze hug a little bald boy with an arrow on his head?! This is a great show, finding new ways of visualizing Eastern beliefs and concepts.



Immortal Diva: As a writer, you obviously read. What are your favorite books?
Lynda: Of course, I’ve read most of the classics, but here’s a list of books that had or continue to have a profound effect on my psyche:

  • Tarzan the Ape Man series by Edgar Rice Burroughs.
  • Yankee Pasha by Edison Marshall – my all-time favorite adventure novel….period!
  • Flowers in the Attic – I can still remember the day I read about the brother and sister thing. The most brilliant plot twist I had ever read up until that point in my life.
  • The Bourne Trilogy by Robert Ludlum – my favorite all-time spy series and very different from the movies.
  • A Rose in Winter – my favorite Beauty & the Beast adaptation by historical romance author, Kathleen E. Woodiwiss (May she rest in peace!)
  • The Mummy by Anne Rice – I liked her vampires, but I fell in love with her Ramses!
  • The Dark Hunter Series by Sherrilyn Kenyon – When Anne Rice threw down the vampire gauntlet, Sherrilyn picked it up and ran with it…and blew it all out of the water!



Immortal Diva: What old TV shows do you miss?
Lynda: Wow, there are tons of old shows that I miss. But here’s a few that really stick out in my mind…

  • La Femme Nikita – I really miss the chemistry between the sultry Nikita and her dark hero Michael
  • Battlestar Galactica – I love Apollo & Starbuck of the original series, but the new series is just delish overall!
  • Firefly – A new sci-fi series that should never have been allowed to disappear!!
  • Greatest American Hero – I LOVED that the hero lost the instructions to his hero suit! I still sing the theme song in my mind when I write. “Believe it or not, I’m walkin’ on air, I never thought I could be so FREE-E-E!” Okay, I’ll stop singing now. A good singing voice is not a gift I possess.
  • MacGuyver – Come on, what’s not to like?
  • Quantum Leap — What a brilliant concept for a series! Each episode is leap in time at random, landing into different characters.
  • Wings – One of the best sitcoms in sitcom history, in my opinion. Even now, my husband and I can quote many obscure lines from this hilarious show. The chemistry of the cast – outstanding! The dialogue of the writing – brilliant!



Immortal Diva: What is your favorite movie quote?
Lynda: In the movie The Quick and the Dead, Gene Hackman’s character says, “You’re not fast enough for me?!” Sharon Stone’s character replies, “Today I am.” Then, she blows a hole in his chest.

Immortal Diva: Is there anything you hate?
Lynda: Absolutely. I hate bullies! All shapes, sizes, forms, and ages.

Immortal Diva: What is your favorite word?
Lynda: Yes.

Immortal Diva: What is your least favorite word?
Lynda: Moist.

Well, that is probably way more than you needed to… or wanted to… know about me. I look forward to putting all of the fantastic characters and creatures in my mind down on paper. They have a lot of stories to tell me. I look forward to sharing them with you.

Sincerely,
Lynda Haviland
a.k.a. Immortal Diva