The Chocolate Queen "A Sweet Read"
Written by Adam Minon, Reporter

 A book has arrived that will satisfy
the sweet tooth of children everywhere.
“The Chocolate Queen,” a young
adult fantasy novel by Thompson
author Lee Brooks, is now on
shelves, and offers an interesting
take one of the world’s most popular
confections.

In the not too distance future in a
parallel world, there are two lands
where women rule. In one land,
called Reverent, live the pious
Outsiders, with strict rules and regulations,
where chocolate is taboo.

Separated by scrublands deep in
the Forest of Mantilla, hides a
secret city called Carmel, a place
where chocolate is plentiful. For 150
years inside this city live the Dregs.
Their loyalty is to their queen and
protecting the Gift.

The Dregs believe in a prophecy
handed down through generations,
and is inscribed on a rock in
Carmel’s park and written in Dreg
symbolism.

The prophecy reads: “In the
midst of battle and bloodshed, a
child with paradise eyes and hair
like a precious jewel, shall be born
by a woman of privilege. Many
tears will fall for the bearer of this
child that will render heartache
and betrayal. This child will have
great skills, endurance, and
courage and grow to become the
leader of a New World.”

Many battles have erupted
between Reverent and Carmel,
causing turmoil and segregation.
Will Reverent conquer Carmel and
rid the world of chocolate forever?
Could the people of Carmel survive
in such a world, or will they
rise up against Reverent to protect
their way of life?

Carmel could never be prepared
for the traumatic chain of events
that lies before them — events that
could potentially cause their whole
world to crumble.

For Brooks, the idea for the book
came out of a simple love for
chocolate.
“I saw one of my girlfriends eating
a piece of chocolate one day,”
said Brooks. “I was thinking about
it and thinking about it, so I
thought I would write something. I
write poetry, and I wrote a couple
of paragraphs, and it was really
silly. My son said, ‘Why don’t you
do something with that?’ I was
playing with it, and it kind of grew
from there.”

The story chronicles the struggle
between the value systems of
Reverent and Carmel, and the life of
Queen Abigail as characters struggle
with the meaning of Carmel’s
prophecy message.

“I thought I’d do something different,
but cute too,” Brooks said. “I
wanted to keep it as real as possible,
like it could have happened. I tried
to focus on the feelings going on
between the characters — the mother
and the son, the queen and best
friend, the love interest — how people
are related.”

She continued: “Everything has
been done. I love movies, so when I
wrote it, I was thinking about when
I watch a movie, and how I would
describe it.”

Brooks said the writing portion of
the process was nearly derailed
after her computer crashed and
many people said she had lost
everything on her hard drive.
Luckily, employees at a nearby Best
Buy were able to extract the data
she needed to continue.

While writing, Brooks said she
inserted many of her own experiences
into the book.
“When I started writing it, I started
thinking of ideas, then things
just started coming into my head,
and I started writing. But, what I
did was, I started taking a lot of my
own experiences and put them into
the book — labor, relationships,
friendships, things that happened
to me. I pulled all those experiences
in and put them in for flavor. It put a
lot of meat in the book.”
After she finished a rough draft of
her completed story, it took another
year to edit.

“Editing was the hardest part,”
she said. “I changed it many times,
because I needed a real hook in the
beginning of the story. So, I
changed the chapters many times.”
During the process, Brooks
attempted to contact many of the
nations largest publishing companies.
However, she was denied
each time.

“The big boys don’t want to talk
to anybody that hasn’t published
anything,” she said. “So, I went to a
bookstore and got a book on literary
agents, and I wrote to everyone in
there that could possibly be interested
in what I wrote, and I got some
very lovely ‘no’s.’”

Finally, a publishing company
PublishAmerica called.
“They contacted me and said they
were interested in looking at it,”
Brooks said. “They took a chance
with me. They liked it, but they said
it needed work.”
PublishAmerica has more than
20,000 signed authors. They are a
traditional publishing company
whose primary goal is to “encourage
and promote the works of
new, previously undiscovered
writers,” according to
their Web site (www.publishamerica.
com). Like
more mainstream publishers,
PublishAmerica pays
its authors advances and
royalties, makes its books
available in both the United
States and Europe through
all bookstores, and never
charges any fees for its services.

The company signed Brooks to a
six-year deal last year for “The
Chocolate Queen.”
To create a finished product,
Brooks said, she had to “pool her
resources,” having her story
proofread by a schoolteacher,
and hiring an entertainment
lawyer to make sure the story
was perfectly structured.

“[The lawyer] said, ‘Since it’s
your first book, it’s got to be
right. When you get to be somebody,
you can write any way you
want,’” Brooks said. “We went
through the book probably 15
times. When it finally came in the
mail, the last thing I wanted to do
was read it.”

When asked if she was thinking
about writing a sequel, Brooks
replied: “We’ll see. I would probably
go backwards. I think it would be
easier to talk about before — how
did that person grow up? Why are
they like this?”

The book is available now at
Amazon.com, Brooks’ Web site
(www.thechocolatequeen.net),
PublishAmerica’s Web site
(http://www.publishamerica.com/
books/17379), and Wonderland
Books in Putnam.
Wonderland will also be hosting a
book signing Saturday, Feb. 10.
“I want people to enjoy [the
book], and get a good feeling,”
Brooks said. “I want them to take
some time and think about their
own relationships, and what is
important to them.”