Storm the City

The story of a popular Pop Queen with mob DNA. When she seeks help from her Godfather, the truth is revealed to the public and dangerous and deadly events take over the lives of Red Storm and her band. The colorful piano playing lead singer of Storm Works, Red Storm, takes her multi-talented band and dance troupe to sold out venues up and down the East Coast. The singer / composer has a well deserved reputation for perfection that has propelled their award winning music company to the top of the charts and kept them there. Contrasting with her wild stage shows is the unbelievably quiet life she leads away from her performances, in a condo with a stunning view of her brain drain, Central Park. She goes to church on Sundays. She contributes millions to charities but concentrates on her favorites; no kill animal shelters and music schools. A native born New Yorker, Amanda Storm lives and breathes her city and the social activities being friends with the mayor affords her. Living with her is her best friend, Samantha Righetti. A native of Oklahoma, she was hired as the singer's personal assistant, but time merged the smart and practical Sam and the creative Storm into a warm and close relationship tighter than twin sisters. Rounding out a trio of improbable friends is Jacqueline Jones, agent for Storm and all of Storm Works. Her ability to push Amanda Storm in directions she doesn't want to go keeps them all on their toes, especially considering the quiet diva has a hair-trigger temper. Life is good for the twenty-five year old, five foot two, brown haired Amanda, who has been on her own since her parents passed in her teen years. But everyone has secrets, even New York's favorite pop star. And when secrets are revealed about a very public and respected personality, life can change drastically. A photo of Red Storm and Tony Russo, Manhattan mob boss, sitting in a bar holding hands sets off a firestorm that alters Amanda's future. What's in that future once that relationship is brought to light? Certainly affiliation with the mob can be nothing but damaging. Guitars and guns don't mix, but Amanda Red Storm sees it as necessary as her mob connections become known. Personal tragedy, loss of her band, loss of her friends, and loss of her mind as problems mount, push Red Storm closer to new associations that are not fan friendly and Amanda must decide who she really is.

The continuing story of Pop Queen Amanda Red Storm. She nurtures two new pop princesses in her band, Storm Works, advancing her band and their popularity to new heights. But her Godfather's drug wars exact an extreme price. Red Storm has overcome personal tragedy and setbacks to her career since revealing her relationship with a major New York crime family. And she has fought to regain her sanity after a deep loss that left her on the edge of darkness. Once she was able to find her way again, her voice followed. And to no one's surprise, her fans were still waiting for her in spite of her secrets. A major part of her recovery and return to stardom is her partnership with Mindy Millner. The accidental discovery of the sweet sounding, tall, freckle-faced red-head, brought a contrasting singing style to Storm Works that fans jumped all over. The band jells around the two and looks to Mindy to help keep the sometime shaky Amanda on track when her unrealistic love life hits rough spots. Amanda gains the confidence to take on that European tour the band has put off for so long. A big bright spot in Amanda's life is the interminable love and admiration of thirteen year old athlete and math genius Lilly Jones, the daughter of her agent, Jacqueline Jones. Lilly blossoms under Amanda's piano and singing lessons, but those ambitions cause a rift between Lilly and her mother and Jackie and Amanda. Jacqueline does not want Lilly in the music business, but Lilly, a self-confident, free thinking, independent soul, defies her mother and proves herself to be a headliner with Storm Works, becoming the third Storm sister. But Amanda Palermo Storm cannot escape family, the Russo family. And she doesn't want to, even though that makes her a constant target of drug lords fighting Tony Russo for territory on New York streets, especially in Queens where her studio and theater is located. She now carries her own Beretta Storm for protection. Even after being kidnapped, tortured, and left for dead, Red Storm defiantly fights back as does her ever loyal band. Fear of the everlasting darkness and an inner voice that tells her she needs to set Storm Works on a new course with two new leads sets Amanda on yet another new life plan that includes the man she has ignored for too long. And a new secret convinces Storm that survival is now more important than defiance.

Mindy May Millner is the new Storm Queen. Along with her singing partner, Tiger Lilly, they push their new Storm Band to major successes, just as outside forces seek to destroy their relationship. With the Red Queen gone, Mindy May struggles to keep the Storm Band together. It doesn't work. There was only one Red Storm and Mindy will never take her place. According to some. But others are willing to follow a new leader, including Lilly Jones. So, a new, lighter version of Storm Works takes shape under the tenuous guidance of the new, reluctant lead singer, pushed by an aggressive, fast learning, and very talented Lilly. But Lilly's aggressive attentions toward Mindy are more than musical and lead both in an unexpected and dangerous direction. A burned up studio, a company near bankruptcy, an angry Jacqueline Jones wanting her daughter back in school, plus a teen who wants to grow up too fast, drives Mindy to pills and vodka. The remaining loyal members of Storm Works find themselves with yet another lead singer who need propping up, so they unite around their star to give her the confidence she needs to get the band back on the road again. Months of hard work bringing together two unlikely lead singers with the remnants of an award winning band eventually pay off when their new sound takes hold with their old fan base. Cross-country tours, TV specials, a Las Vegas show, and commercial endorsements follow as the fortune of the new Storm Works turns back to award winning gold. The old mob ties are not gone, and Mindy May finds a strange and safe friendship with gangster Tony Russo, and even stranger, her mother is now his steady date. But those public associations do not deter yet another dangerous stalker from turning Mindy's life inside out. Mindy May also has to contend with an even more rebellious Lilly Jones who makes a very public split with her mother and declare herself independent at age sixteen, tattoos a lily up her back, and renames herself Tiger Lilly. The music they make is critically acclaimed, but can Storm Works prevent an implosion as an increasingly self-confident Mindy Millner clashes with the increasingly opinionated and fan favored teen? Will their intense relationship, natural talent, and polished performances keep Storm Works at the top of the pop charts after such a tough battle to rebuild their former reputation? Will the spirit of Amanda Red Storm provide them the guidance they need?

Lilly Kayla Jones, the last Storm, Red Storm's little princess, is utterly alone after heartbreaking death and destruction. The nagging question in the back of her mind is; why isn't she dead too? Tiger Lilly, the Storm Princess, is on the verge of suicide. Her queen is gone. Her lover is gone. The strong guidance she has come to depend upon from the people she grew up with has been destroyed. Her music is abysmal and her stage performances inferior. She has lost her way and not even her band, Sidewalk, nor her best friend, former Storm Trouper Lisa Adams, who she abuses on a daily basis, can pull her from her deep depression. But she has enough internal strength left to make one last rational decision. On the West Coast are the other two survivors of Storm Works, Jake Fowler and his wife Sandy Ocean, people she has always trusted. These are the only people she thinks may be able to clear her thinking, because her only thoughts now are to join Amanda Storm and Mindy May Storm. The only thing holding her back from joining them has been the agonizing thought that they may not be happy with her joining them in the forever darkness. But Lilly sees no place left to go. Lilly says goodbye to anyone who cares and plots a course across the United States with a few specific stops along the way and prepares to drop out and disappear. Unwilling to fly, Lilly stores her Pink Jeep, packs the Storm Family Volvo and sets out to discover if she is worth saving. The Suicide Tour. Her trip turns into the journey of discovery she hoped it could be, not all positive, but not all negative either. The city girl turns to nature as a soothing way to calm her ever present anger. But even camping by herself in the backcountry of national parks cannot offset the heartbreak of her perceived betrayal by her now former band and best friend. And her Storm Sisters are silent to her pleas for help. Or are they? Crashing her car in Montana, Kayla Jones is stranded until it can be repaired. Disguised as a freelance writer and working as a cook, she finds herself getting close to her fellow cook and slowly realizes there may be something worth living for after all. She stays through a Montana winter, learning life after Mindy May. Until she can't, as another friend betrays a trust and she has to move away from this new someone who, maybe, can keep her away from the forever darkness. Finding shelter and love with Jake, Sandy, and their son, Lilly begins the process of rebuilding her life, believing her Storm Sisters led her on this journey after all. And that her new life will include not just her music and her fans, but the one she left behind in Montana. And she vows to honor the women who gave her the strength to continue living. She vows to become the new Storm Queen.