I don’t know who originally said that and I
couldn’t find a precise answer to the question on Google. In any event, today, I’m
talking about humor and the Dixie Cash books, co-written by me and my sister.
We’re soon to release an audio version of OUR RED HOT ROMANCE IS LEAVING ME
BLUE.
From the beginning, humor and laughter have
been the goal of the Dixie Cash books. And from what we’ve heard from readers,
most people think the adventures of Debbie Sue Overstreet and Edwina Perkins-Martin
(the Domestic Equalizers) are hilarious. Redneck humor, to be sure, but
nevertheless, funny.
Tomboy Debbie Sue is a former ProRodeo barrel
racer. When her life and her career went to hell, she became a hairdresser. Doesn't everybody? In her first divorce from her present husband, she won an ancient gas
station she couldn’t sell and had to think of something to do with the old
building, so she turned it into a beauty salon. A perfectly logical solution to the problem.
Debbie Sue is also frustrated detective who wants to be taken seriously, but
she’s often thwarted in that effort by her husband, James Russell
Overstreet, Jr. He's a crime-fighting real Texas Ranger who *is* taken seriously.
Her
former lover, Quint Matthews, who still contends for her affections even though
she’s married, is a former ProRodeo and PBA bull-riding champion with an ego as
big as Texas, who is now a wealthy rodeo stock contractor.
All of this causes Debbie Sue endless frustration and copious conflicts.
Debbie Sue’s partner, Edwina, is a career
hairdresser with multiple husbands and kids, who considers herself glamourous, dresses to the extreme in
sixties and seventies fashions, wears rhinestone be-decked cat-eye glasses, delivers sage advice and mostly wants to have a
good time. Her husband is 6’6” and weighs 275 pounds. He’s a retired US Navy
SEAL who now owns his own big rig and trucks from coast to coast. Edwina likes to boast that he liberated Kuwait and knows three hundred
ways to kill you quietly.
Doubting they are qualified to take on true
crime fighting, Debbie Sue and Edwina, through their private investigative
agency, the Domestic Equalizers, try to confine their detective work to
following cheating spouses and significant others and Edwina does a little
matchmaking on the side. “Don’t get mad; get even” is their motto.
Unfortunately, real crime always finds them.
And that’s the foundation from where we
started the Domestic Equalizers series.
So where does humor originate? Most
experts agree that it originates in “truth.” Truth-based humor is laced with
cynicism and irony. Jay Leno. Jimmy Kimmel. Larry the Cable Guy presents corny,
but truth-based humor. Dennis Miller is on the other end of the spectrum.
Intellectual humor for the informed, but truth-based, nevertheless. George
Carlin used to be one of my favorites. One of the most cynical human beings
ever, his humor was the ultimate in organic humor.
In terms of TV shows, “Two and a Half Men”
has to be one of the funniest shows to make it to TV lately. You might not be a
Charlie Sheen fan, which I’m not; and you might not like the blatant immorality
portrayed on that show, which I don’t. But you have to admit that when Charlie
Sheet was in it, it was funny. The irony derived from a kid living with a
libertine uncle and an inveterate fumbler father constantly but unsuccessfully
looking to get laid was too delicious not to be humorous.
The old Mary Tyler Moore show with its cast
of off-the-wall characters was one of the funniest shows on TV. A character in
that show was Chuckles the Clown. In polls
of the funniest particular scenes, the funeral of Chuckles is always listed
near the top. There’s a short list of people and shows that were truly
funny—Carol Burnet, Tim Conway and Harvey Korman in The Carol Burnet Show, Lucille Ball in I Love Lucy. If you examine these shows, you will see that even
Lucy and Ethel’s crazy antics were humor from the gut.
So getting back to the Dixie Cash books.
Raw, truth-based humor and a subtle, cynical observation of our fellow man. If you want a good laugh, maybe you should get acquainted with Debbie Sue and
Edwina. You could start by listening to OUR RED HOT ROMANCE IS LEAVING ME BLUE.
It will soon be out through www.audible.com.
And hopefully, before the end of the year, we'll self-publish and release a new Dixie Cash extravaganza in print. It's a story about a man and his dog. And a parrot.
Debbie Sue and Edwina are two of my favorite characters. I have to admit to being partial to Edwina. LOL I love the series and look forward to a new release ASAP.
ReplyDeleteNow this, I have to read! I love humor in stories, and setting up a situation where the character has to resort to extraordinary measures is always fun. But it does have to be truth-based to get a good laugh.
ReplyDeleteI love the titles of the Dixie Cash books. They remind me of books by the late Lewis Grizzard, another southern humor writer that I really liked. Can't wait for your audio book to be available.
ReplyDeleteI prefer humor, too. I feel there's nothing better than a zany heroine and a hunky hero! I look forward to reading this series, Anna!
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comments, ladies. I've been listening to the audio book and the narrator does a great job with the Edwina character. Of the two Domestic Equalizers, she's the one who's the clown.... Actually, Joan, the humor in the DC books is a little like Lewis Grizzard's. I really liked that guy. I have a couple of his book.... Mind you, these books aren't romances in the traditional definition. All of them have a small romance in them, but they mostly are about Debbie Sue and Edwina's zany episodes.
ReplyDeleteAnna Jeffrey, who is half of Dixie Cash :-)