Birthday bash - day 8! Eric Barnes shares guilty pleasures...

Today's guest is Eric Barnes, author of the soon-to-be-published novel, Shimmer! Read on to see what he has to say about guilty pleasures (not his! psych!)...

When I was writing Shimmer, I wanted to find a way for Robbie Case, the main character who has led his company into a Ponzi scheme, to be almost entirely without vices. Self-indulgence, I thought, would distract from the fraud, from the moral and ethical quandary of the choices Robbie makes. I wanted the novel to stay focused on the rational, methodical decisions Robbie has made. It wasn’t interesting, to me, to write about someone who not only lied his way into the situation, but a person who enjoyed it, who wildly spent the money he made, who lived a life of pleasure and decadence, who didn’t care about the risks he was taking or the risks he’d imposed on everyone around him..

Yet that made Robbie just a little bit unreal. Because everyone has their vices.

And so Robbie has two secret, guilty desires. Prostitutes. And gin.

I did not do drugs. I did not gamble, did not even spend the money I was paid. This was my vice, dark music and gin, a woman escorted to me by my bodyguard.

Robbie’s vices couldn’t compete or distract from the choices he makes by day, running the company. They couldn’t be an excuse. A crutch or reason for what he does. And so I knew that the prostitutes in Shimmer had to be fundamentally unreal, willing and faceless and nonpersons completely. At least they are at first, at the start of the novel. By the end they are real. They are people. And they begin to represent something very bad to and about Robbie.

But what would Robbie drink? It had to be gin. Clear, cold gin. Not a martini, not a gin and tonic. Just a glass of gin.

I’m drinking it now, while writing this post in honor of Drey’s birthday. I don’t drink gin often. There’s a certain danger in it for me. I’ll drink a bit too much of it. Drink it a bit too fast. Strange things will happen then. Not always bad, and not always good. But strange.

The kids are playing downstairs. Elizabeth’s making dinner. I can see the neighbors tending to their yard. But there’s gin in a glass near me and Portishead on the stereo. Strange things could happen. Half a glass and, really, I can’t help but think it’s possible.

For Robbie, it was the same. His late at night wanderings through the upper floors of the company are very often accompanied by a glass of gin. An outlet. An elixir. A simple pleasure in the fray of all that he’s caused to happen. And strange things did happen for him. Not every night. But most.

Happy Birthday, Drey.

Awwwww! Thanks, Eric!!  & doesn't his post just make you want to pick up Shimmer, like, NOW??  *grin*  You can find Eric online at his website, ericbarnes.net.

Giveaway!
Thanks to Unbridled Books, I have one ARC copy of Shimmer on the block, so step on up! This goes only to mailing addresses in the U.S. (sorry!), and ends 6:00 p.m. CST June 24th--so hurry on up!  

To enter, comment and share a guilty pleasure...  Mine? Dark chocolate.  If it comes wrapped around a really really good cheesecake? Even better. Relatively harmless, except to my arteries, lol!

As always, +1 for following, +2 for sharing! Good luck!