Demons, Curses, and Other Weird
Things That Haunt Us
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The
Devil Can Wait
Silenced Cry
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Stephens Interrogated
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Text, photographs, and artwork copyright © 2007-2008 by Marta Stephens
© Marta Stephens, 2008 all rights
reserved
One fact that few people know about me is that my
paternal grandfather,
Marcelo Ruggero, was a stage and film actor in Buenos Aires during
the 1930s to the mid 1950s. He was a local sensation in his days. By the
time I was born, he had long retired, but his stories lived on through
my father. I was always particularly drawn to the tales about the
strange things that often plagued the crew and actors during certain
productions; illnesses, props disappearing, etc.
Actors often say they have to “get into character” in order to not only
understand who they are trying to portray but also the character’s
motivation. Immersing him- or herself into the role of the character is
what ultimately brings the character to life on screen. As a writer, I
understand this principle quite well. I talk to my characters, don’t
you?
But what happens when the plot is not of this world? When demons play a
supporting role and/or are the focus of attention? Recently, I was
talking to a good friend of mine and retired journalist about some of
the odd and unexplained things that happened after I submitted THE DEVIL
CAN WAIT to my publisher. None of the incidents were life-threatening
and individually, each could have easily been brushed off as
coincidence. Still, something didn’t feel right and thus I decided to
make a list and noticed a pattern begin to form. At every critical stage
of production some unexplained occurrence caused a delay making me
wonder if someone or something was trying to prevent the inevitable.
My friend listened intently and then had this interesting fact to share
with me. “Years ago I was lucky enough to get together with Gregory
Peck, Lee Remick and Billy Whitelaw at the close of filming for The
Omen. They told me scary yarns about what went wrong on set – and even
the destruction of a whole spool of key footage when a light plane was
struck by lightning. It seemed Hell itself was on the job, doing all it
could to put a spoiler on the famous 666 movie.”
It seems that in many ways I’m not alone, but for now, I'm content in
knowing that I hold the winning hand because like it or not, THE DEVIL
CAN WAIT will arrive on November 3, 2008, and Homicide Detective Sam
Harper is again on the move against a formidable adversary.