Vengeance And The Family Business

We sit down with Anna J, Octavia Grant, and Olivia Renee Wallace to unpack Vengeance, a thriller built around a funeral home legacy and a family inheritance that comes with rules, secrets, and consequences. We talk craft, research, and how three distinct writers create a single voice while still keeping the story wild, funny, and grounded. 
• how Vengeance is born through community connections and DMs 
• why trust matters more than writing sprints for co-authoring 
• building character profiles and letting characters drive the plot 
• using afterlife narration and flashbacks to reveal motive 
• shaping Celine and Solana as intentional opposites 
• researching funeral homes, crime details, and realism in thriller fiction 
• therapy and writing as a safe outlet for dark ideas 
• the meaning behind “Precision Is Key” as a professional code 
• real-life experiences with emergency departments, morgues, and funeral work 
• upcoming book events, exclusives, and new releases 
Be sure to come to the table and give me a hug. 

outro

Transcript

Welcome And Trigger Warning

SPEAKER_03 0:01

Hey y'all, hey, you are watching and listening to Lakes Between the Lives. I'm so excited today. I don't know if I am going to be able to stay between the Lives, but this is your trigger warning. You'll see once you find out who we have in the building with us today. So I am going to let them introduce themselves. Today we're going to talk about an inheritance and generational wealth that came with something other than money. So if you ladies who would like to introduce themselves first.

Meet The Authors Behind Vengeance

SPEAKER_00 0:49

I wrote so many books. My recent project with these two beautiful ladies is Vengeance. I write across most genres. I'm not gonna say all. And I'm just happy to be here. Thanks for having us.

SPEAKER_02 1:04

I am my friend. I'm having technical difficulty today. This alright. I'm Octavia. I am the author of Dare Vicky Works Husband and Cutthroat. My latest project was Venus with these beautiful black women. I have been writing for about nine years. In nine years, I have penned over 40 books. I started with urban fiction, and now I am a dedicated thriller author.

SPEAKER_01 1:38

I'm guessing it's my turn now. I am Olivia Renee Wallace. My primary genre has been romance and ladies. Third thriller project, actually. I have the Brooks and Teachers trilogy that just recently came out about a month ago. And it's three different genres, three different stories about three different male black teachers. So I dabble in a little bit of everything. So I'm working on it even more.

SPEAKER_02 2:16

You have static.

SPEAKER_00 2:20

Yeah, I'm I'm hearing it, but okay, go ahead. Oh, was it on me?

SPEAKER_01 2:28

Because I heard it with Octavia a little bit and then I didn't hear it anymore. So I'm not sure.

SPEAKER_03 2:35

Look at Taco Tech. I was just gonna show it's tail today.

SPEAKER_02 2:39

Yes, it's uh It's raining in Florida, so it could be. The weather is crazy here.

SPEAKER_01 2:47

It's crazy and it's windy here. I don't know if that affects anything. Is it any better?

SPEAKER_00 2:53

Yeah, because you're a little glitchy, Olivia.

SPEAKER_03 2:57

I don't know, I don't want to be glitchy sitting in my car because I'm and that's crazy because all the while before it was it was doing can y'all hear me now?

SPEAKER_00 3:35

All right, I got everything turned up. Okay, yeah, you could just be the spot you win. You know that bright it looked like you got brighter, like your phone kind of popular image.

SPEAKER_03 3:47

What did you do? Uh-huh, the back facing camera. Did you change the camera? No, I didn't I didn't do anything.

SPEAKER_02 3:53

I just doubled up from the car. Oh, it could have been your car. The blue tube. Yeah, the blue tube.

SPEAKER_01 4:02

So it's better now though? Yeah. Yes, ma'am.

How The Collaboration Started

SPEAKER_03 4:10

So Anna, how do we start this? How do we how do we start? How did vengeance be birthed?

SPEAKER_00 4:18

I went begging. I went, I went, you know, like hey girl, hey. So there's this thing. I I just asked politely. Kind of sort of. Did you know them before you did you know them before you I'm not gonna say I knew them, but I knew them. Like we all know each other. We all out in these literary streets. But did I know them? I don't know that I did. Not as well as I know them now.

SPEAKER_03 4:46

And um, so it went down in the DM.

SPEAKER_00 4:48

It went down basically, yeah. It went down in the DMs. Octavia sent me a copy of her book in 2023. Didn't know who she was, just met her. Didn't even know that black people was writing thriller. And I said, Oh I this I'm on the wrong side of the coin. I need to get over here. And she sent me her book, and then like 2024 came in, and I'm like, I need to write with her. Maybe I should let me pray on it. And then one day I just got up the nerve, was like, so this is this is what I want to do. Don't you think go with me? And she was like, Yeah, I said, You do, girl, I'll be right back. Let me go write a couple thousand words, I'll be right back. Like, and that's just how it went down. Olivia Renee designed the cover for erotic snapshots for me. She designs a lot of book covers, and she wrote a book called Fractured. I said, Oh, she's writing thriller now. Get on over here, sis. Let's go. And yeah, we just made it happen.

SPEAKER_03 5:46

What did y'all think when she hit y'all up to work on this project?

SPEAKER_02 5:51

I honestly was I was happy, and I'm gonna tell you why. When I sent her the book, how I found Anna, she used to make these like very detailed bookmarks, and someone tagged her in there because I asked who made the bookmark. And when I found it was like, this cannot be the Anna J. Like it isn't possible. So when I found another one, I have a very, I have a very nice personality, right? This is how I am right now is how I am always. So, you know, like, you know what? I love you. She sent me the bookmarks, and she sent me more than what I ordered. And then I sent her my book, my very first, you know, go with your daddy. I sent her my first book that I wrote as an independent author. And I'm like, God, if you ever see fit for this woman to want to work with me, I am all in. And God said, you know what, girl, I got your back. And she asked me. She asked me, and I was like, yeah. And then we waited because we both had things going on. And then she came back, she was like, you know what? Olivia Renee wrote this, and I feel like she would be good for the project. And I'm like, Because Renee has been doing book covers for me for the longest. I remember her saying, you know, I love making these, but I can never write this. And I'm like, nah, she's lying. But of course, I'm not gonna try to force something on you that you don't wanna do, right? Because she designed Dear Mickey, right? She had 100% creative control. I'm not a graphic designer, so I don't tell you how to do your job. And I knew that she had it in her because her designs were just too spot on. And then when Anna said, you know what, I'm gonna bring her in, we have what we have today. And it was a phenomenal, it has been phenomenal.

SPEAKER_03 7:48

So it's like a full circle, like a full circle moment.

SPEAKER_02 7:53

Yes.

Writing Without Zoom Or Babysitting

SPEAKER_03 7:55

So how did this collaboration work? Because I know y'all are all in different cities, and the story, let me tell y'all something. I have read things with more than one author, and it was like, I know y'all didn't read stuff with more than one author, and it's like you can tell when another author picks up the pen. But in this, it flowed so like it was like one voice. Like, you couldn't tell who wrote what, or how did y'all write this? Like, did y'all send stuff back and forth? Did y'all all sit down and write together on Zoom? How did we get this?

SPEAKER_00 8:33

Girl, we don't have time for no Zoom.

unknown 8:35

Who ain't nobody got time for that?

SPEAKER_03 8:38

You know, people be on Zoom uh, not Zoom, you know the uh what they be doing, the sprints, the we I had time for that, y'all.

SPEAKER_00 8:45

I know I don't. I don't know what they got time for, but I don't have time for it. Catch me in these streets. No, we just well, we pinky promised when we were done this project that we were not gonna tell who wrote what part. Because it really doesn't matter. The book flowed, you know. It did. Let's just say we well, we have you know our group chat, so we would just pop in periodically. How old is so-and-so? What was I'm kidding's name again? Well, how do y'all feel about this? You know, that kind of thing. But we just took our we just took our creative liberties and made it do what it do, and that's what we got. That that's what happens when you pray for things though. That is true, just does what it's supposed to do, so it wasn't no extensive writing sprints and no crap like that. We were writing this book in between writing other books, so getting prepared to go to book events, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 9:34

So we we we just you know freestyled it and it it came out as to what you have today. When you're working with people that you respect, you don't have to give them guidance, no, right on their neck about it.

SPEAKER_00 9:48

Like we already understood the assignment, so yeah, wait.

SPEAKER_03 9:53

So, yeah, I mean it's did y'all outline or like have like how did this develop? Did you just let it it just flowed?

SPEAKER_00 10:00

Well, the only thing I did do in the very beginning, I gave them a concept. These are the people, this is the you know, we got the Houston family funeral home. These are the people that work at the funeral home, this is how they're related. This is what I I gave them like the little character profiles, so like everybody gets a birthday. So this is how Tyrone would act if he was a Sagittarius, this is how Celine would act if she was a Virgo, that kind of thing. This is what I got. Then we're gonna just make it do what it do. I I I trusted them wholeheartedly because I I knew I prayed about this. So God was like, go ahead and ask these girls, do they want to do this project? So it wasn't no whole like I didn't have to babysit, I didn't have to do none of the things. It wasn't no timeline. We was able to take our time and do the project, and we got it done. When I say they understood the assignment, the assignment was understood.

SPEAKER_03 10:50

Yeah, I definitely understood the assignment. That is crazy, like this is crazy. My mind is like blown right now that it wasn't a struct.

SPEAKER_02 11:04

We was all like, damn, like how did that even yeah, and I can't do outlines because if I outline, I don't follow it. Like I'm such a free-spirited writer that if I'm if I'm trying to follow a structure, it won't come out the way that I want it to come out. So it's like if I'm doing that, it just comes out like I'm hitting points instead of telling a story, and that doesn't work for me. I have to just go where the wind takes me, and it works for me.

SPEAKER_01 11:36

Yep. Now with me, it's instant to write down what I want to happen. Not necessarily an outline, you know, because I will try an outline, but the characters are gonna do what they want to do. But I kind of I kind of jot down what I want or you know, things that I've learned from either of the ladies that we've talked about, and then try to figure out how exactly I want that to happen, and then I just let it flow. I just I just let it go then. But me, I will ask questions because, like I said, they are the pros. These ladies' names start with the word the the T-H-E-E, because they are those chicks. So I will ask questions because I'm still kind of new to it, but everything just kind of it just kind of fell into place, everything just kind of worked out with with everything.

Tyrone’s Voice And The Daughters’ Twist

SPEAKER_03 12:22

So let's get into the story, and I don't want to give spoilers because I want people who haven't read it to still be able to uh enjoy it. But brother Tyrone, first of all, why I have a cousin named Tyrone. Is he a mortician? He is not, but the actors kind of um, yeah. The fact I said, why are these people named like people we would actually meet in the streets and stuff, like your local, your neighbor, like your real neighbor neighbor, Celine, Solana.

SPEAKER_00 13:05

Octavia asked that same question when we were writing a story. She said, Why is this man's name Tyrone? I said, because we didn't have Dayquan's back in the day. We had regular names back in the day. His name wouldn't have been, you know, something weird like that.

SPEAKER_01 13:25

So yeah, with a dad named Cecil. It was definitely some Cecil's back in the day.

SPEAKER_00 13:31

Yeah, he wouldn't have he wouldn't have been Hanif. You understand what I mean? Like they didn't have them in 1970. They just those they came about you know later on 2000, something like that.

SPEAKER_03 13:43

I'm not finna play with you, Anna.

SPEAKER_00 13:46

And I like them.

SPEAKER_03 13:49

You you really not. I said when I first started reading, it said Tyrone, and then it said Cecil, and then I love how we were discovering Tyrone has so much depth to him, and I love how y'all did it to where we were able to see his inner thoughts, and the fact that it was going back and forth from like his videos, we got to see it in real time of him explaining with his daughters. How did that concept like was it hard to write like the flashbacks with his thoughts? And then it flowed so smoothly into Celine and Solana, into them watching the video, like how it just how how what what was the concept behind that? Or how did we get like this? Is how we're gonna do it.

SPEAKER_00 14:48

Well, you gotta keep in mind that Tyrone was telling the story in the afterlife. His kids were telling the current story. So we were we were meeting Tyrone after he was already gone. His kids are still here. So they were learning about, we were all learning about Tyrone. They were so we're weak.

SPEAKER_02 15:10

And I think when you're writing, you you kind of know, even without outlines or guide guidelines, you still kind of have to like mentally figure out, okay, how do I want to tell the story where the reader understands where the author is coming from, right? So it's like it's just something innate when you when you've been writing for so long. You just know what needs to be covered. You know the questions kind of in your mind that the readers are gonna want to know. And that that's what normally drives us when we're writing. Because you know, okay, they're gonna have this question, they're gonna wanna know what happens here, there, there, there. And so you automatically go in writing knowing that you're gonna have follow-up questions. You try to touch all of those points when you're writing.

SPEAKER_00 15:54

And that's what I want in a book. I know what I want to read when I'm reading a book. Exactly. It just kind of flows that way.

SPEAKER_01 16:03

Yeah, and flashbacks kind of gives you more insight on that person as opposed to just that surface. You know, without those flashbacks, I mean, we already know that this man is a vigilante or this man is a killer, but why? How did he get to this point? So those flashbacks help give him humanity, uh, more or less, than just, you know, we know this dude up here chopping folks up in the neighborhood. So you get to get him, like, and feel his emotions and his whys and things like that, like how he came to be, how he didn't even want to do this at first, and he was brought into it. You know, without those flashbacks, you wouldn't know that. You would just assume this dude just like messing folks up for the game of it. But it's it's deeper than that once you get to know him.

SPEAKER_03 16:47

And then the daughters, their because they were like opposites. How far apart were they? Were they like a couple, two years apart? Three years, three years apart. How did y'all create the daughters like their personalities? Because one surprised me. And I thought and he it gives you like it's gonna be the other one, and then you get this little twist and shock, and you're like, I didn't see that because I thought it was gonna be well.

SPEAKER_00 17:19

Their names mean the sun and the moon. The sun and the moon are complete opposites. So they were I did not know that.

SPEAKER_03 17:30

I I researched that you'll be so intentional with stuff. See, that's why I like having these to get behind it, because I did not know that.

SPEAKER_00 17:38

Well, but when they when they had the first letter, Tyrone called them like the sun and the moon. So I gave the hint that their names meant something, but I don't know that people picked it up.

SPEAKER_03 17:52

Then I'm gonna have to go back and read and I'm gonna have to go back and read it for a third time because y'all, I read this twice. I read this twice.

SPEAKER_02 18:03

Did y'all see that? You held your fingers up and the balls came.

SPEAKER_03 18:10

Wait a minute, because I ain't never seen that before.

SPEAKER_00 18:13

That's hilarious.

SPEAKER_03 18:17

I forgot what I was saying. That distracted me. Oh, I read the book. Let me not put my fingers up. I read the book two times. Cause I was just like, Tyrone, I ain't gonna lie, that was my favorite character, y'all.

SPEAKER_00 18:35

Yeah, I love that.

SPEAKER_02 18:36

Tyrone was really that dude.

SPEAKER_03 18:37

He really was the fact that we got and I almost want to see, I wanna ask, is there gonna be like a prequel to where we get more in-depth of Tyrone?

SPEAKER_00 18:50

Or I don't know, Saga. I don't think so. I mean, we wasn't planning it. We you know, we got we got other projects on the table, you know. I mean, we got other stuff. So if something does come along, you know, you'll I guess you'll find out when everybody else found out. But it's as of right now, no.

SPEAKER_03 19:10

As of right now, no. Then let's talk about how it ended. Because it felt like it didn't end, it felt like the beginning of something, like a new beginning for the for the Houston family.

SPEAKER_00 19:23

I mean, uh it's new people taking the reins right now. That's it.

SPEAKER_03 19:26

That's all I feel like we were ushering in a new generation of something, and that's a good thing, though.

SPEAKER_01 19:37

That that means the the readers don't want more, so yes, definitely a good thing.

SPEAKER_03 19:43

And let me say, I know y'all on somebody else be watch list.

SPEAKER_02 19:50

That is my goal. I'm gonna be honest. I've said that before. It is my goal to have the FBI knock on my door and say, Why are you looking this stuff up?

SPEAKER_03 20:00

Why the why like the scenes, and I'm trying to say it where I don't give away some of the like the grocery store scenes? That's a little, you know. I have I it almost make me not want to go to the store and eat no meat, just get to play vegetables or chicken, something that I because what I mean what did you Google to? I mean, that's not even a it's not even a question. I'm trying to formulate it.

Researching Violence While Staying Real

SPEAKER_00 20:51

We had to look up things when we were writing this book. Just I mean, just in in general, you know, I don't work at a grocery store. Do any of you ladies work at a grocery store? No, we don't know how things work at the grocery store. I even even with us doing a funeral home. I've never worked at a funeral home. I had to look things up, I had to find out, you know, we had to look at stuff. You know, how how long does it take to cook a body?

SPEAKER_03 21:16

Or for how long, or what formulation mixing with the was cocaine?

SPEAKER_00 21:22

Did I say cocaine mixed with the you know, from the neighborhood? You know, I mean he got it from the people, but you also know that like a lot of the times with Octavia, especially with Octavia and I, and we you know draw grene into it. We all we love research books. So that we love all of us gotta have it. I'm like, oh girl, I'm about to look out for your mail, I'm about to send you something. Or has to do with any kind of thing, especially torture. Oh, and I'm about to send you, oh, I'm about to send y'all. So one thing about us is we're gonna research something. We're gonna look at personality traits, we're gonna look at, you know, what to do with sunflower seeds in a crunch. You understand what I mean?

SPEAKER_03 21:58

Like, how do you even decide? Discuss that, but how do you even discuss that? Like, this is what we're gonna do. I'm I'm gonna write, like you did y'all pass that scene back and forth.

SPEAKER_00 22:11

I'm just trying to do it, but I don't know that we did, but you know, it it landed the way it needed to land.

SPEAKER_02 22:20

And I think when you're working with people that you respect, you like I know these ladies work, right? So you kind of know, okay, well, I can ask this question and then not seem weird. Or I can suggest this thing, and then it's like, okay, this happens in these types of books. My kids beating on the window, y'all. Um, like this is what happens. So when we have to ask these strange questions, it does not seem strange because this is our writing style, right? Like she said, you know, we mail books to each other all the time because we need it for our for our writing. Research is very important. Even in Thriller, you have to research your seeds, you have to research how to do things so it can be authentic. Like if I said I have a grocery store in the funeral home, you know that's a lie, right? You have to do research because when things don't connect, it's like, okay, yeah, she don't know what she's talking about. That that takes away from the story, right? And the reader will point it out if they don't seem like it will. Yes, they will. I will read a book, and it was like a 1990s book, and they had an iPhone like 16. That doesn't make sense, right? You have to make things make sense. Sometimes that comes with a conversation, and because these ladies, we all were in the same field, the what the strange questions make sense, and you just need to know how things work.

SPEAKER_00 23:47

Like if you part of a body part and you're gonna want the person to die, what do you do? That's a conversation, you know?

SPEAKER_03 23:56

It's the fact that you just so composed, that's a conversation.

SPEAKER_00 24:02

What the speaker of how long do you think he's gonna leave for? Like, that's an everyday conversation for us, yeah. Like torture, like, how do we do it? How do we do it?

SPEAKER_03 24:14

Yeah, did y'all have any nightmares after writing anything up in here?

SPEAKER_01 24:19

Not this time around, not me, no, no, I think I'm starting to get comfortable at this point. Thanks to y'all. Um I'm getting there.

SPEAKER_04 24:29

Oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_01 24:31

Like a couple years ago, I probably wouldn't have been able to read read a story like Vengeance, and now it's like, yeah, this is this is my type of thing now. Yeah, I'm still lovey W, but it might be a body in the back room.

SPEAKER_03 24:45

I was just gonna say, Renee, how was this transition? Because you say you most you mostly wrote romance in your other thrillers, were they as extensive, like the torture as in vengeance, or was it more psychological?

SPEAKER_01 24:59

Did we have serialers? It was it was more psychological. So in in vengeance, I got to to dig a little deeper. I'm like, I can't, I can't come like a pansy and I'm working with these two ladies. It can't be like, you know, she tripped and fell down the stairs and died. No, that I can't I can't do that with with them because they they taking you out. Folks is getting peeled like grapes. So no. So I had to step my game up. You know, it couldn't just be a scary sound at the window. It had to be somebody getting tossed out that, you know. So I had to step up, and now I I like it. It's addictive. Y'all fault. I blame y'all.

SPEAKER_00 25:39

And the living here from Nate Wilda's got bars. Don't let her because she acts like she all shy and everything, but baby, she brings the heat. We're talking about keep up with us. We gotta keep up with her.

SPEAKER_02 25:51

Definitely, it's always the quiet ones you gotta look out for.

SPEAKER_03 25:57

Ciao, I'm still over here and torture trying like my mind.

Therapy, Favorite Lines, And The Motto

SPEAKER_03 26:02

The fact that child, do y'all take do you take therapy? Anybody go to therapy? Absolutely, yeah. Do they ask about y'all work?

SPEAKER_02 26:14

Do they ask y'all about y'all's work? My therapist knows that I'm an author. Um, he has never suggested me. He's okay with it, actually. He says it's an outlet, and it is for me.

SPEAKER_00 26:26

So as long as I can act on it, as long as the body again in the basement. So make sure the female drive always. Anna, Anna. Oh my gosh. I'm just saying, you know, that last house was a mess. No, I'm joking. No, I'm not a killer, don't push me. Um, but no, but Olivia Renee Wallace has. I will say this though. One of our favorite lines from the book, he wrote it, and we had to go back. I was like, oh, I'm just I'm just gonna say it. One of I know I don't know if it's there, but precision is he. No, not that one, but it's if you haven't gotten right with the Lord, now is the time.

SPEAKER_02 27:14

We need that on a t-shirt, y'all.

SPEAKER_00 27:16

That was she wrote that, and send me the link so I can get it. The girl, she when I say we were sitting here, it's like as the book was going, everybody's mouth was open. Like, I cannot believe this is happening, and it was just unfolding like right in front of us. So everything, it was stuff that we didn't even think of initially, and once it was written, we was like, Oh, that was the one, you know. It was such a great project, it really was.

SPEAKER_03 27:45

Precision is key. Is there a deeper meaning? Because dad would always did dad start to say that, or did Tyrone start it? I know it was like uh to make sure your lines and stuff are straight whenever you're cutting, but was there a deeper meaning behind because I kept seeing it a lot, and then the fact I felt like it was like an underground uh underground railroad to people who had a hand to let you know like they were a part of it, or you know, precision is key, then wait for the reaction. Like that means you know, are you involved?

SPEAKER_01 28:30

No, I mean it was it was more like a model, it's what they stood by because despite being killers, they were about their business, you know, the professionalism, precision in everything, whether you're dealing with somebody who died of natural causes or if you did it yourself. You know, so it was just like it was a motto, something that they live by, that's something that they stood by. Not necessarily, I don't think it was necessarily like a sign that, you know, we're part of this network of killers or anything like that. It's just what it's just their motto, it's what they stood by.

SPEAKER_02 29:01

You got quality work so you can keep the same way. I love that they handle both the legitimate bodies as well as the illegitimate bodies the same way. That way there was never a slip-up. Like, okay, I'm handling, even though you go on some player someplace else, I'm gonna handle you the same way. That way, when I'm on authentic deceased person, I'm not gonna mess up the way I would do someone that I brought in here. So I love that they use precision.

SPEAKER_03 29:33

I wondered that because I was like, they're gonna die anyway. Why are they worried about bacteria?

SPEAKER_00 29:40

If they're gonna be if you um you handle you when you clean in your kitchen, you give the same love to the pots and pans that you do to the plates and the cups. You don't have wash the plates and the cups because they're not because they didn't cook the meal, right? You're gonna handle everything, you're gonna handle it all the same way. So the Houstons were God fearing people. They wanna give, I'm not gonna give this body back to the Lord. I hope you're right. I hope you got right. Because I'm gonna give you back the way you're supposed to came. I'm gonna make sure you handle it, but they're gonna get the platinum package. You go, we're gonna we're gonna give you the one that did the top dollar package and make sure you're pristine when we lay you down. It's all about respect, respect for the dead. They deserve it too, even though they're already gone.

SPEAKER_03 30:21

It was the way they kept saying we're doing the Lord's work.

SPEAKER_00 30:24

Oh, yeah. Because the Lord be taking long, he be busy with other stuff. I got it. I'm gonna handle it. Don't worry about it. Go ahead. You go finish, you work on it. I work on this. It's cool, don't worry about it.

SPEAKER_01 30:36

Yeah, you go help that none with those orphans. I got this dude over here. This drug didn't I got him, don't worry about it.

SPEAKER_00 30:41

I got it.

SPEAKER_01 30:42

Yep, Andre.

SPEAKER_00 30:46

Andre, yes.

SPEAKER_03 30:48

Why why got why I say the room smells like wet chemicals? Is that a dead body on the table? Hey y'all. What? Look, she deserved.

SPEAKER_01 31:06

She deserves to deal with another life. She deserved she deserved, yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 31:17

And see, it was like Andre had to came up. That's why I said, why do I feel like it's more? Because Andre had a little story going on with his was it his cousin? So I was like, and then when when when Larry was his name, old Larry. We got any we got any pictures of Larry, like any art. Because she said Larry was the way she described Larry. I need to see what Larry look like.

SPEAKER_00 31:43

We do have a visual for Larry. I don't know if it's out there yet, but we do have it. Larry was fine.

SPEAKER_03 31:48

If it was an actor out there, who would you say he looked like?

SPEAKER_01 31:55

Um, who did we say? I can't even remember. But at one point, at one point, we had said Method Man.

SPEAKER_02 32:04

Method Man, that means that we we already changed her from that. I know, but then he's finer, he's finer than Method Mac.

SPEAKER_00 32:12

Yes, Method Man.

SPEAKER_03 32:15

Why can't he place Method Man face?

SPEAKER_00 32:18

I don't know how the Method Man? Oh, but fine. You ever see like those like them older men, like a silver fox?

SPEAKER_02 32:27

Yeah, he's a Zaddy though. Definitely a silver fox, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 32:31

Like they do silver videos on Facebook, exactly. Like they not no old cripple, bent up, bent over, back crack. Like these men is fine. Tyrone Houston was that one, okay. He aged gracefully, and Larry was the same way, like they wasn't no, you could tell they in the gym, they lived a good life, you know. I mean, they had to be in the gym picking up bodies, yeah, exactly. Bodies be heavy. So these wasn't no, this wasn't like your somebody's grandfather, you know. This was this was like, oh, he he nice.

SPEAKER_02 33:08

I like bodies do be heavy, bodies

Real Encounters With Death And The Morgue

SPEAKER_02 33:11

do be heavy. So when I when I was interning before I got my coronary justice degree, I was taking classes to be a radiology technologist, and we had to do x-rays in the morgue. It was very scary because I'm a very scary person in real life. And when I went to lift a head to turn it, it felt like I was lifting a bowling ball. It was extremely heavy. However, the medical field was not for me, it was not for me, and I left that quickly.

SPEAKER_03 33:42

You had to lift the dead head.

SPEAKER_02 33:45

I did, yeah. To position it for x-rays. I've had a very interesting life. I've had a very interesting life, but the medical field was not for me. So I left and I got my criminal justice degree, and I use what I learned in criminal justice to write these books.

SPEAKER_00 34:04

And y'all know I'm still in the medical, so I see day bodies daily sometimes. Where do you work, Anna? So I manage the ED here in Philly, the emergency department. So our shout, you know, our babies come sometimes. The babies are born right in the ED. The mom died in the ED, giving birth to the baby. They come in shot, they come in stabbed, they come in with their eye hanging out their face. Like, I see stuff all the time. So for me, like seeing when I walk past the room and I'm like, oh, room 13 did close the curtain, keep moving. Like it's already done. Like, I don't even I'm so dissercialized to it now. But before that, fun fact, when I was in school for cosmetology, this when I was young, they uh never forget a funeral home came to the school because they needed people to do hair at the funeral home. And I was like, Oh, I can definitely do that. My job young, I'm 19. Go down to the funeral home, and what they don't tell you is if you don't have enough embalming fluid in the body, the body will sit up. So wait, yeah, it'll it'll start to fold into itself. Oh, sorry, it'll start to fold into itself. So I'm in the one room doing the makeup, and you can see like it was like a window, and you can see in the other room. And the guys that worked there were oh, they were such assholes, like they would leave like eyeballs in the drawers and stuff like that. But he said to me, He said, Listen, he said, I have to run, get involved in fluid. Um, I'll be right back. I said, Okay, and I'm doing the hair of the person that's in front of me, but I can see like the body is rising, like it's real slow, it's very gradual. And I'm looking and I'm like, is that person really sitting up? Like the person was sitting up, so by the time like they were like sitting up, I'm like, Oh, I'm in there losing my mind. I call him and he says to me, Anna, you have to go in there and lay the body down because if you don't, we have to crank it in half to lay it back down. By the time he came back, I knew that. Yeah, by the time he came back, not only did they have to crank it, I had the woman's hair wasn't done, I had already packed my little pick, like I was already out of there. So I knew early on, like, oh, this ain't my bag. Then I get to college, I meet my best friend, and she we supposed to be going to school for nursing, couldn't pass the damn test, and she's like, Oh, let's go, let's do mortuary. I'm like, girl, I don't want to do that. Like, oh, and they already did, and as you can see, I work in the she owns two funeral homes. I work in the ed. So, not I don't really mind it, it doesn't really phase me because I can kind of like see them and move, but me having to be there on them, like Octavia said, positioning the head for x-rays and all that. No.

unknown 36:49

No.

SPEAKER_03 36:49

Renee, you got any dealings with the dead? Did you have any dealings with the dead? I'd rather not.

SPEAKER_01 36:55

I've been to a funeral before.

SPEAKER_03 37:00

I'm good. I'm good. I just sent flowers. I don't even go to the flower.

SPEAKER_00 37:06

I barely show up to those, y'all. Listen. Grandma already going. Sorry.

SPEAKER_03 37:12

That's why I just sent flowers. Yeah, this story gave Tales from the Hood. I was gonna tell y'all that I said at first I was like, this is like an adult goosebumps, but then I was like, no, this is like uh Tales from the Hood story. Like, I could see the little crib up in there telling and then it unfolds.

SPEAKER_00 37:37

But Tyrone was really out here like doing the Lord's work though, like he wasn't just out here just snatching bodies just because you had to do something in order for him to intervene. You just didn't know his intervention was going to end up with you on the other side. That's all. He was a good guy, yeah. He really was. I mean, the premise of the story is a guy, a pillar of the community, yes.

SPEAKER_03 38:03

What do y'all want readers to take away from this, from this story?

SPEAKER_00 38:07

Like that they should get right with the Lord.

SPEAKER_02 38:12

That's exactly what I was gonna say.

SPEAKER_00 38:16

That's it. Now is the time. You you might find yourself in the flag somewhere, you never know. But you might want to, you know, be on your P's and Q's.

SPEAKER_01 38:27

I mean, that's it. That's right.

SPEAKER_02 38:30

Like people the way you want to be treated.

SPEAKER_01 38:33

If you live in right, you ain't gonna be worried about it.

SPEAKER_02 38:36

Exactly.

SPEAKER_03 38:37

You never really know who watching you.

SPEAKER_01 38:43

The same man who bought your kid an ice cream cone can be ready to take you out.

SPEAKER_03 38:51

That one was they they just gonna have to go and scoop it up so they can see the ice cream man. Y'all remember y'all watched that movie The Ice Cream Man? That's what I thought about doing that scene. Y'all never seen that movie? It's like an old, oh my god, it was like in the 90s, like the ice cream man. He was like one around, and I was gonna ask that too. Like, did y'all see that and maybe incorporate like he was the ice cream and he went around killing kids and stuff and killing people, and he was actually putting them in the ice cream like machines and stuff. Y'all never seen it?

SPEAKER_02 39:24

No, it's the ice cream! And I'm gonna go the ice cream.

SPEAKER_00 39:31

I don't really watch a lot of TV, so it's old, it's like an old I'ma have to look it up because most of the time I'm I sit in silence. There's nothing on in here, it's just me typing. Um you may, I may have the TV on or may have some music playing, but it's very quiet around here.

SPEAKER_03 39:52

So and I remember that because still to this day, I'd never went up to an ice cream truck like with the music and stuff. I don't go up to ice cream trucks.

SPEAKER_00 40:01

So we're playing music and everything, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 40:03

That's how you would attract the kids and stuff, like with the riding around neighborhoods and stuff with the music and stuff.

SPEAKER_00 40:08

Okay, that's like that sounds like right up my alley, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 40:12

I'm gonna so yeah. I'm a scary cat, I'm not gonna watch it. You're a scary cat. What did you just say you're a scaredy cat?

SPEAKER_01 40:21

You're not gonna watch you. Yeah, I can write it. I can write it now. What? If I watch it, I need somebody with me, and then we're gonna have to watch a cartoon right after. We're gonna have to watch a cartoon. I didn't have to say what's gonna be.

Events, New Releases, And Where To Follow

SPEAKER_03 40:42

Anybody got any upcoming events that they're getting ready for?

SPEAKER_02 40:47

I think everybody got some coming up, don't they? Yeah, I have one in June and they in Ohio. Then I'll be in Charleston, South Carolina, September, and in November I will be in Houston.

SPEAKER_03 40:59

Oh, you back to back?

SPEAKER_02 41:03

A little rest in between, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 41:05

A little rest in between.

SPEAKER_00 41:07

I'll be in New York in July for Pages in the City, where I'll be debuted in my first romance. Then I'll be in license to thrill in October.

SPEAKER_03 41:21

And I'll see you there.

SPEAKER_00 41:24

Oh, we'll get the hug pretty much. Okay, that's that's about it for me, I think, this year.

SPEAKER_01 41:30

Yeah, I'll be licensed to thrill with with Anna, and I'll be debuting another psychological thriller then. So be sure to come to the table and give me a hug. I want hugs too. Make me feel important.

SPEAKER_03 41:43

Does anybody have anything dropping within like the next month or two that we should be on the lookout for?

SPEAKER_00 41:49

So rainy days is my first shot at a messy situation, it's a situation ship, it's more so that than a romance, and that will be exclusive for pages in the city. So if you're not at Pages in the City and you don't grab your copy, you won't have it. So that's going to be exclusive for that. And then I'm going back to killing people because I I think this like that.

SPEAKER_02 42:18

And I have a book coming out sometime this summer. I don't have a release date yet, but the title was revealed yesterday. It's called The Narcissist. When I do have a cover and a release date, I will let you know.

SPEAKER_03 42:31

But we know to be on the lookout for it. Yes, it has been a pleasure sitting here with you guys today. I enjoyed y'all. And all of the look, since it's three of y'all, did y'all have any disagreements or anything at any point of like in the story? It just flowed. That's what happened when you got a good group of people when it's you supposed to be together.

SPEAKER_00 43:01

Everything just flowed. I it's the trust level that we had with each other that just made all the difference. When you when you know what people was capable of. My whole thing is when I when this project, when I thought about it, I didn't ask somebody that don't that doesn't write it. Like I unhinged. This is what she does. Renee Wallace is unhinged. This is what she does. She doesn't know it. So it was so easy. Like I there, none of us are out of our element. This is what we do. So it was easy for us to just make it happen.

SPEAKER_03 43:34

It showed in the story, too. It definitely showed. Audio.

SPEAKER_02 44:01

I don't. I just know that I want to hear a voice.

SPEAKER_00 44:04

I in my head, it got it because Tyrone Houston has so much authority. He needs baritone. He definitely has because he when he says it, he if you if you've noticed he's not loud about it, he's not yelling about it. He only yelled the one time with that whole ice cream situation. His demeanor was so calm throughout the whole book. Exactly, but he meant business. So he didn't have to be boisterous for him to get his point across. He was very like, oh, you done messed up and got on this table, huh?

SPEAKER_03 44:33

Sucks to be it was only one instance where he kind of got a little, and that's because he was basically something that was precious to him. But other than that, he was exactly.

SPEAKER_00 44:45

And I think the only other time, well, both times it had to do with his family. Because it was, you know, with his girl and his kids. Don't mess with my babies, don't mess with my woman. Other than that, though, like he in his in his head, you whatever you did got you here. It wasn't me, it was you. So now these are the consequences of your actions.

SPEAKER_03 45:05

So it would have to be somebody who can bring those emotions out, but still in a calm, in a calm manner.

SPEAKER_00 45:13

Right. You gotta have like a dry sense of humor. But Tyrone just opening up the book was hilarious. He's singing a Christmas song in the summer, and he remixed it. So it's like you know, you gotta have that dry sense of humor.

SPEAKER_03 45:27

Man, I said they started off, started off on pay, started with the foolishness. I didn't spake anything less.

SPEAKER_00 45:37

Yeah, yeah, it was it was a good time. I enjoyed it, I had a great time.

SPEAKER_03 45:43

Did I ever get an answer if we were gonna get maybe a future? No, I don't think it's just opening.

SPEAKER_02 45:59

What all would be would be needed? I feel like we covered everything in this, but there's always a you know, are is it gonna be a part two? Are you gonna do this? Like, I don't what else would be needed in that?

SPEAKER_03 46:13

I don't know, like they want they want 19 books in a series, like no, it just gave Selena and Solana like a beginning, like a or like that was their origin. Because what y'all about do this you know, home that and this y'all about to give it to Larry, or y'all about to go ahead and take it over, and then are you are you and Andre gonna get together? And then Celine, are you and Larry, or is you gonna get back with your baby daddy? Because y'all was mighty close, y'all was y'all was kicking a lot, y'all was with a lot of kicking.

SPEAKER_00 46:53

I mean, you know, we're gonna leave it to readers' interpretation. We've come to the end of the road. Well, y'all heard that.

SPEAKER_03 47:06

So look that's a no or maybe. Okay. It was it was a pleasure talking to you guys today. Let us know where we can follow you on Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok.

SPEAKER_00 47:25

On all three of those platforms, I am either Anna J Author or Author Anna J.

SPEAKER_02 47:31

Same. I am Author Octavia Grant all across the board.

SPEAKER_01 47:36

On Facebook, I'm Renee Wallace. On Instagram and TikTok, I'm author Olivia Renee Wallace.

SPEAKER_03 47:44

All righty, y'all. So until next time, catch us later. Bye.

SPEAKER_04 47:51

Bye. Thank you.