Check Mate: the NaNoWriMo Contest Winner, the Legend, the Blog

Einstein & the Atomic Bomb

pennybloom — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 23:31:13 +0000

I do not believe that civilization will be wiped out in a war fought with the atomic bomb. Perhaps two-thirds of the people of the earth will be killed.–Albert Einstein

This just goes to prove that Einstein, was not only a genius, he was a genius with a flair for irony.

Numbers aside, for those of us growing up during the Cold War the threat of Nuclear Obliteration was a daily obsession. If we weren’t reading about it, or hearing about it on the news, we were watching movies about it. Here’s a clip from one of my favorites:

Check Mate: One Source of Inspiration

pennybloom — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 02:12:33 +0000

Far too many things inspired me to write Check Mate for me to list, but I’ll try my best over the coming posts to provide you with images, thoughts and sources. I’m a huge movie buff, especially fond of classic films, especially the films of Frank Capra. Those classic films have influenced my writing both stylistically and thematically. This is only one scene, from one favorite films, which had an impact on Check Mate:

Mr. Smith Goes to Washington: The end of the filibuster

Check Mate (The End): Yeah, it’s got an ending…

pennybloom — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 02:06:09 +0000

I’m not gonna tell you what it is, of course. You’ll have to wait to get the book. But isn’t it nice to know it’s all finished and only needs some tyding up to get submitted and then published? I thought you’d like to know that. I feel (if you’ve read all the goodies on this blog) that you may have found something that peaked your interest. That was the plan anyway, send me a comment and let me know if I got it right.

Check Mate (The Middle Continued) Casablanca: Things Get Complicated, Emotions Run High

pennybloom — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 01:58:56 +0000

In Check Mate, we look into why people fight, what drives them to think their battles are noble, what are the values for which people ware willing to die. This is one of the scenes from a favorite movie that elegantly illustrates those emotions:

Casablanca: La Marseillaise

Check Mate (The Middle) — School House Rock: The Shot Heard Round the World

pennybloom — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 01:31:33 +0000

Can you ever get enough School House Rock? I think not. This particular episode ‘The Shot Heard Round the World’ provides a nice summary of the original US Revolution and reflects the historic basis for the Revolution in Check Mate, which starts even before the book begins and reaches its climax in the middle of the book. The Wild Turkeys rush in, just in time for Thanksgiving.

School House Rock: The Shot Heard Round the World

Check Mate (The Beginning) — School House Rock: No More Kings

pennybloom — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 01:19:15 +0000

School House Rock covered almost everything you needed to know. Not the least of which was Civics. For the benefit of fellow GenX-ers in the US, who will delight in revisiting the past, I provide this link into what its at the Heart of Check Mate. For those wonderful people living everyone else in this marvelous world, I believe you will find this both fun and enlightening. For all my many British pals, don’t worry. In Check Mate you are the most trusted of allies, the King of England supports the HAGAR Rebel Alliance and the oppressor over taxing comes from a completely different direction. That said, Check Mate is partially based on the old adage, “The more things change, the more they stay the same.” Check Mate is also based on taking adages like that and turning them upside down, to see how they can be proved false.

School House Rock: No More Kings

November 2029 — Hello world. Don’t Dream..It’s Over.

pennybloom — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 16:53:51 +0000

Check Mate: Giving Kenny a Voice

Welcome to the official blog of Check Mate. Yes! Check Mate: the long awaited Apocalyptic, Reality TV inspired, roller-coaster ride around the world in 30 days, headed to oblivion in 30 minutes, salvation to be found in 30 souls.

This saga is jam-packed with political intrigue, nail biting suspense, sex, drugs and rock and roll. The author of Check Mate has dedicated herself, during the month of November 2009, to describing, in dizzying detail, our world during the month of November 2029. Thereby ensuring that she gave fellow GenX-ers (and everyone else) something new to worry about..’cause you don’t have enough already.

You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, you’ll find it better than ‘Cats’, you’ll read it again and again. Hopefully, you’ll buy many copies for your friends, once it’s in print.

Thirty Days of Heaven and Hell

Check out the neat pages in this blog such as: Consumer Warning, In a Nutshell, with the Nuts, and Meet the Author, for all the inside scoop.

This book has been a massive accomplishment (for the author) and it is a winner of the NaNoWriMo 2009 Contest (official winner certificate on file–sadly no decoder ring.)

The objective of this blog is to give you a taste for all that is inside this book, and to record the journey the book takes from proud first draft to print. What an adventure that will be!

This blog will not go into what it was like to write a NaNoWriMo novel or even what the heck NaNoWriMo is (although if you press the links on the word, you’ll know because you will taken to their site.) They are cool folks, you’ll like them.

If you want to know more about the process of getting Check Mate made, what the author calls ‘Check Mate: Behind the Scenes’ or ‘What else did I have to do this November?’, you can find all the dish on the author’s blog on writing and all things writer-ish: Hyper-Scribnia.

The first posts will be a musical and cinematic tour of Check Mate, to give you some helpful background on what Check Mate is all about. For your convenience a quick “Who? What? When? Where? Why? and How?” of Check Mate, with extras. is located down the left hand column of this blog’s home page. So visit, take a peek, don’t be shy, it don’t bite much.

Ask the author…

So why Check Mate? Firstly, because that’s how I roll. Secondly, because once you realize that everything will be just fine in 2012 and the Mayan Prophesy was just nonsense, you’ll need something fresh to make you nervous. Thirdly, because, after waaaay too much reality TV watching, my Hubby turned to me and said: “You know where this is going, don’t you?” and I did.

Share this blog with friends, enjoy it, and please do feel free to comment. If you liked what you read here, then do me a favor and go to your local bookstore demanding a copy of Check Mate. It won’t be there of course, ’cause I’m still editing it, but if enough of you annoy the booksellers, maybe a big publisher will come to me and insist on having the book. (In my dreams!)

Have a wonderful and safe Holiday Season! I’ll be busy with edits and submissions well into the New Year. Follow this blog and get the latest updates fresh from the mare’s mouth.