Get Ready to Laugh: Lindsey Brookes on Hick Lit
Posted by Trish Milburn Jul 27 2012, 12:03 am
Yeah, you read that title right — hick lit. Lindsey Brookes’ new book, Jimmie Joe Johnson: Manwhore, debuted earlier this month, and if you’re looking for a hilarious read then you’re in luck. I’m happy to host my faboo friend Lindsey today. Give her a big ol’ Bandit Lair howdy!
Jimmie Joe Johnson: Manwhore — now that’s a title that has to have a story behind it. Do tell.
Lindsey: Jimmie Joe comes from a long line of ‘hound dogs’. His granddaddy, his daddy, and now Jimmie Joe. It’s ‘g-netic’. Or so he thinks. But one sexy, sassy female named Baylee Jean Brown is about to prove to Jimmie Joe there’s only one female for him.
You’re marketing this as hick lit? Umm, is that what it sounds like?
As ‘hick’ as it comes. Set in Possum Hollow, Alabama with a cast of sassy, southern characters guaranteed to bring a smile to your face. There’s big trucks, drinkin’, diddlin’ (a.k.a. redneck sex), shootin’ pool, more beer, more diddlin’, fallin’ in love, and a touch of magic.
I hear you had quite the fun launch party recently. Tell us about it.
I wanted to celebrate the upcoming launch of Jimmie Joe Johnson: Manwhore, and I wanted to do it ‘redneck’ style. So I invited all my friends and family, telling them to ‘dress down’ for the festivities. A lot of them came dressed like the characters in my story. I loved it! I rented a life-size fake cow with 4 udders, 2 benches and 2 buckets that my guests could actually milk and have milk-offs. We had a potato gun (a homemade potato launcher) which shot the taters really high up into the air. Several of the kids at the party waited in a nearby field with ball gloves to catch the veggie missiles. I served several of my ‘redneck’ dishes under toilet seats (new ones, of course). And there was a toilet with a potted plant in it, an old bowling ball, and a plastic flamingo garnishing my front yard lamp post. We had ‘redneck’ laundry hanging out on a clothelines complete with long johns, ornery t-shirts, and faux roadkill. Tables were decorated with ‘Billy Bob’ teeth and beer bottles with flowers in them. I took tons of pics. You can see the fun in my Facebook picture album.
Where did you get the inspiration for this story?
It started as a joke. I wrote several silly redneck scenes to entertain my friends from Writers at Play. They loved them and kept asking for more. Then my good friend, Janice Lynn, told my agent, Michelle Grajkowski from 3 Seas Literary Agency, about it. She had me send it to her to read. I did. She loved it and sent it (unfinished) to several editors who also loved it but didn’t know what to do with it. (That’s what happens when you start your own genre <g>.) But Alicia Condon never gave up on finding a place for Jimmie Joe. When Kensington decided to start an e-book line, she contacted Michelle to see if I’d be interested in having Jimmie Joe Johnson: Manwhore be one of the launch books for their new line. I jumped at the opportunity. Alicia is wonderful editor to work with. Oh, and the characters are loosely based on my own pool team which made it to Las Vegas one year. What a blast that was. I gave all Jimmie Joe’s friends/pool teammates my team’s nicknames. Yes, there really is a T-Bone, a Marcus Erectus, etc. And they are every bit as nutty as Jimmie Joe’s friends.
Is this book part of a series? If so, what can readers look forward to next?
Yes. Kensington is wanting two more books in the Possum Hollow Series. I’m working on the second book now. It’s Skeeter (Jimmie Joe’s best friend) and Randi Lynn’s (Baylee Jean’s younger sister) story. All the same wacky characters return with a few more added to the mix.
Lindsey’s question for the Romance Bandits and Bandit Buddies (aka everyone reading this): Rednecks have some really fun nicknames. I’m always looking for more. Can you suggest some fun redneck names of your own? They might even end up in a future Possum Hollow story! One lucky commenter will receive an adorable possum mirror for your purse along with a Possum Hollow pen, button and a Jimmie Joe Johnson: Manwhore bookmark.
To learn more about Lindsey and her books, visit her website.
Comments
Here would be my redneck names:
Boys:
Roscoe Roy Jenson
Cletus Cooper Clyde
Dale Bodean
Girls:
Daisy Mae
Bambi Sue
OMG, those are awesome names, Melody. Cletus, something about that name just always makes me laugh.
Melody, congrats on nabbing the Golden Rooster! I hope he won’t give you a lot of trouble.
Those are great names!
I’m sure he will be on his best behavior. He doesn’t like getting chase by a toddler.
Melody, are you actually from Possum Hollow?
Great names!
No, but I lived in Louisiana for 4 years. I think that helped. ;D
LOL!
ROFL!!! That sounds absolutely hilarious, Lindsey! Must add this to my TBB! I am so not familiar with redneck naming… they do seem to often be multiple names, like Junie Peach or Shiloh Amberly… (I’m thinking my ignorance is showing
)
Junie Peach, I love it! And yes, we have a proliferation of double and triple names here in the South. My go-to redneck name is Jimmie Joe Bob, but Lindsey’s already got the Jimmie Joe.
Here’s one, Linds:
Buford Earl Spokes
I thinkin’ Junie Peach and Buford Earl sounds like a perfect love match!
This sounds like great fun, Trish and Lindsey! Love the title. Certainly not one you’ll forget in a hurry!
So, Anna, do you all have an equivalent for rednecks in Australia?
We do indeed and the state I come from, Queensland, is fondly referred to as the Deep North (like Deep South!). You’re lucky I didn’t blow my nose on the tablecloth last time we had dinner!
They have one thing in common for sure. The word ‘mate’. Only in Jimmie Joe’s case it involves a female…
Hey Lindsey – waving madly
I’m afraid I can’t think of any redneck names but wanted to wish you tons of success on this fabulous story. Love everything about the possum hollow series. Wishing you lots of Manwhore success!
Donna, I had to laugh at the last line of your comment. Hee hee.
*waving back* Thanks, Donna!
Oblivion Jean. Now that’s a redneck name!
Also
Billy Wayne
Wendell Ray
Yep-I actually know brothers by these names:-)
LOL, Robin. I wanna say thanks for them there name suggestions, but I reckon I oughta be thankin’ them boys momma’s instead.
HA! Another momma you might want to thank is Virgil’s:)
Hi Lindsey and Trish
This books sounds like heaps of fun love the names I guess we don’t really have red necks as such here in Oz but we do have very country people that always use nick names some of them are
Blue (if you have red hair)
Then normally shortening of names and I have drawn a complete blank at the moment although my hubby worked for many years with a guy from the south in The States and he always called my hubby Gator for some reason LOL
Congrats on the release I look forward to reading this on
Have Fun
Helen
Helen, I’ve never heard of anyone being nicknamed Gator, but I don’t live in the part of the South where we have alligators. Maybe it’s a more common name in places like Louisiana, south Georgia, and Florida, where they actually have alligators.
Thanks, Helen! Love the nickname gator. You would think being in Oz he would have called your husband Croc instead.
Lindsey, welcome! What a fun story.
I can’t add anything to the names people have already come up with. There are some great ones here. Congrats on your release, and best of luck with the series!
Thanks so much, Nancy!
Oh, Nancy honey, I think all we have to do is look in the phone book.
Trish, I feel like I’ve been drinkin’ some of Skeeter’s daddy’s moonshine when I open this blog and look at our pictures. Or maybe it was our photographers who had a little of that moonshine. See how we are tipping over only in opposite directions?
LOL! I hadn’t noticed, but you’re right!
Junie Peach is my favorite, Lindsey, she needs to be someone’s maiden aunt who finds romance at the senior center (-:
How about ‘Bama for a nickname? That was in an old Burt Reynolds movie. I’m also partial to Ray Bob and Dawnie May – oh, and I have a cousin whose name is – I’m dead serious – Sally Bobette Bowers. She has a sister named Putsy Adkins. Again, not kidding . . .
Love this entire comment, Cathy. And I can totally see a battle of the sexes at the nursing home over what plays on the main TV — fishing shows for the guys or “stories” (soap operas) or HGTV for the ladies.
Oh where Jimmie Joe would go with someone named anything ‘Bobitt’….
YAYYY!! One of my favourite people is in the Lair!! I’m so excited to help Lindsey celebrate the launch of this book – especially as I’m one of the WaP friends who first read Jimmie Joe and told her it would be a hit!
We don’t have rednecks over here, but we do have CHAV’s – hard to explain, you have to be here to ‘appreciate’ them!
Is CHAV an acronym for something?
Hey, Anna Banana! Yes, Anna was one of the first to read snippetts of Jimmie Joe’s story and push me to do something with it. I was like, “Yeah, right. Who would want a story about a redneck?” Now the TV is filled with Redneck shows. Talk about good timing.
LOL my husband works with a guy named Jim Ted and I’m always calling him Jim Bob.
Jim Ted, never heard that combo before. And does anyone else think of The Waltons when you heard the name Jim Bob?
G’night, John Boy. G’night, Mary Ellen!
Maybe Jim Ted is Jim Bob’s cousin.
Lindsey this series sounds like such fun!
I need something romantic and fun to read next. I’ll have to pick this up for certain.
Lessee…around here we have a number of “Skeeters” but I see you’ve already got one of those.
Where I grew up we had an old guy who lived at the edge of town. Everyone called him Poor Meat. (Yes, he was rather poor, but I think the name came from his being thin.) I don’t actually know what his name was. EVERYBODY just called him Poor Meat. Pronounced Poremeeet, or if you were an old timer, it was Pomeat.
We have a number of people named Cotton, and people do tend to use the two-names for the kids–at least the ones named after their daddies.
There’s a family near me…the father is Joe. The son is Joe Bill. The son is also Joseph William, but they call him Will.
There are two or three Joe Davids and a Joe Neil or two.
Hmmm.. There’s a lot more than that around here. Some odd ones. I’ll have to think harder.
Love the name Skeeter. He gets to be the hero in book two. You’ll have to let me know what you think of Jimmie Joe’s story after you’ve read it.
Love it, Lindsay! I went over to see the
photo gallery and laughed out loud at
them! Just what every Southern home
needs decorating the lawn: a flower-
filled toilet! Got major league chills on
seeing those toilet-seat serving dishes!
All my children have a first and middle
name & as Southern Catholics, one is a
saint’s name. I’m Patricia Ann and as a
youngster, I shuddered each time my
cousins called me “Patsy Ann!!!
Some real names from my HS class: Joe Ed,
Bobby Joe, Lannie Beth, Annie Lee, Jimmy
Ruth, Ida Fay, and Benny Sue. Looking forward to reading all the names in “JJJ:M” !!!!
Pat C.
Another Patricia Ann! We’re good peeps.
I cracked up at Lindsey’s photos too, but like you, I cringed at the toilet seats, even though I knew they were new.
I know. There’s just a gross-out factor even if they ARE new. Totally irrational but can’t help it.
So Pat, just to be clear….you’re saying we should not start calling you Patsy Ann here in the lair, right???
I had to open my big mouth, didn’t I?
Cassondra, dear Cassondra, let’s just
forget I said anything! OK?
Patricia Ann C.
Don’t worry pat…What happens in the lair..STAYS in the lair. ;0)
The toilet seats were new, I promise!
I’m thinkin’ of turnin’ them into picture frames for my redneck party pics so they don’t go to waste….
OH OH!
I remembered one.
I grew up hearing this name, but had never met a person with the name until I moved to this house. Now I personally know two men named Chigger.
And I think that actually IS their names.
LOL – Well, only half of Marcus Erectus’ name is real. I’ll leave it for you to guess which half.
I forgot to think about the girls.
One of my mom’s good friends when I was growing up was Norma Jean. Another was Mary Ruth. We always just slurred that into what sounded like Mare-Ruth.
My grandmother was Della May…the old timers called her Delly May. Her sister was Pearlie. Another was Velma–which got turned into Velmie. There was also Corrine, which is actually kind of a pretty name I think, except around there they said it Core-Reeen, with the accent on the “Core” and I didn’t think that was pretty at all.
And there is a long-standing tradition around those parts that if you’re Michael the son and your dad is also Michael, He’s Mike and you’re “Little Mike”–even when you’re grown and with your own kids.
Those are some great girl names! Thanks!
My dear, sweet mother-in-law commented
to me once about her name. She said she
wished she hadn’t been named after every
other cow in the area.
Her name: Bessie Mae.
Pat C.
Jim Bob is all I can think of right now. One of my good friends use to call my hubby this when we worked together years ago.
Jim Bob seems to be very popular.
You know, even Jimmie Joe’s people would try to elevate themselves by using fancy names. Things like Anastasia or Biblical references like Zipporah. Yup, I know this to be a fact! jepebATverizonDOTnet
Penny Sue
Lindy Sue
Betty Bea
Hank Lee
Cooter Ram
Dudley Wes
Jimbo Hogg
I new an Anna Mae when growing up. What is funny is that my one daughter has a nickname of Anime because she draws these characters but of course it sounds the same!
Oh I hate that nanosecond when I hit click and see a typo – knew of course lol.