The Tsika Project has results, currently choosing from the vast array of pics.

Say hello to Tsika Tsarinkov. The name Tsika isn't Russian ... it's a nickname. A school administrator mangled and mispronounced her birth name. The class thought it was funny and abused her with it for days before she decided to *own* the name. After that, only very special people were allowed to call her by birth name "Tsarina". She looks the part of a perfect princess but has a fiery boisterous personality. Swears constantly, drinks, prone to going nuclear if her friend Glycerin is in peril.

Model: Mamiko
Ph: Piotr Pro Photo
for BHBranham (author of It Really IS Rocket Science)

Possible book cover candidate

Fan Club Print Candidate

Tsika and her Lollipop Spell

Stalker man spots me smoking. Is bad for him.

Glycerin's Daily Journal - a selected note.

Glycerin is the lead guitarist of IRIRS and a main character in the book series. Something gleaned from her personal journal:
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Today, little dove Kpau asked me, "If someone with multiple personalities threatens to kill herself, is it considered a hostage situation?". She meant it funny, I thought it was funny - but then we both started crying and ended up hugging.
Some days the whole blooming band is crazier than a bag of ferrets and sugar cubes, not just me. -- Glycerin &\
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Books available at:
http://www.amazon.com/Brad-H-Branham/e/B00GBM1T0Q

"Glycerin" Glycca Ping Wendham and Dissociative Identity Disorder

The book series, It Really IS Rocket Science, is superficially about the adventures and romances of a rock band. 

It's also a collection of character studies of a group of rather unusual misfits who depend on each other. It isn't an utter secret at this point that Glycerin, the lead guitarist of the group, is afflicted ("enhanced?") with Disassociative Identity Disorder. Symptoms vary greatly from patient to patient - Glycerin exhibits one particular set of behaviors coupled with PTSD and clinical depression. 

They call their rock band The Lost Girls for good reason. I wanted the series to be fantastic but based on reality - so I did a lot of research to portray each woman with the complexity of their real disorders. Kpau and Tsika exhibit different symptoms but still reflective of PTSD behaviors. Both have coping mechanisms that mostly work. 

Glycerin is going to get to do some self-discovery of her nature in the next novel in a setting she feels safe in, where she won't be drugged into oblivion or burned at the stake. I needed more sophisticated neuroscience understanding. Here's a synopsis of one of the many papers I'm plowing into. For Science. 
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Opening paragraphs describe the general features - many of which apply to Glycerin

 Dissociative identity disorder is characterized by the presence of two or more identities or personality states, each with its own relatively enduring pattern of perceiving, relating to, and thinking about the environment and the self (DSM-IV-TR). At least two of these identities recurrently take control of the person’s behavior. Dissociative identity disorder is frequently accompanied by dissociative amnesia, characterized by an inability to recall important personal information that is too extensive to be explained by ordinary forgetfulness. Patients with dissociative identity disorder also commonly experience a range of other symptoms, including depersonalization, derealization, spontaneous autohypnotic symptoms, pseudopsychotic symptoms such as passive influence from and/or hearing the hallucinated voices of alter identities, and multiple somatoform symptoms (1) . 

In clinical studies, most patients with dissociative identity disorder have also been found to meet the DSM-IV-TR criteria for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) (2) . In epidemiological studies of the general population, the prevalence of dissociative identity disorder has been found to range from 1% to 3% (3) . 

Numerous studies have shown an association between a dissociative identity disorder diagnosis and an antecedent history of childhood trauma, usually multiple, sustained forms of maltreatment beginning in early childhood (4 – 8) . Although the accuracy of recall in patients with dissociative identity disorder has been debated, patients’ accounts of maltreatment have been independently verified in several studies by using corollary history from family informants, childhood medical records, and social service documents (6 , 9) . Accordingly, the disorder has been conceptualized as a childhood-onset posttraumatic developmental disorder (10 , 11) . Despite these findings, essentially nothing is known about the neurobiology of dissociative identity disorder. 
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Read Glycerin's story (and that of the other women) by visiting http://www.amazon.com/Brad-H-Branham/e/B00GBM1T0Q and other book retailers.

Lady Sariel: Model shoot in the bank building because it was damn cold outside

Lady Sariel: Z wąsami w kamienicy banku.: Siemano! Przepraszam, że była tu taka cisza w ostatnich miesiącach, ale moje życie wywróciło się do góry nogami w ostatnim czasie. Jak pewni...







Chrome has the lovely ability to translate entire pages with a single right click of the mouse. Lady Sariel in a recent shoot she blogged about. She's going to portray Nadia, a new character in my book series about a rock band - It Really IS Rocket Science.

Random Bits and Notes

The Kindle version of the third volume, "Go Go Godzilla" has been long delayed by a couple of explosions and my easy distraction in writing volume 4. Deepest apologies to those patiently waiting for it - I've set aside all writing time to get it done.

In other news, people on Facebook are aware of a new character joining the roller coaster ride. Her name is Nadia, a Polish keyboardist and bass guitarist. She is hired in on short notice during the European tour - she hopes to make it permanent. Let the human comedy of errors, misunderstandings, and missteps begin. I've started a project with a model and clothing designer who goes by the name Lady Sariel professionally (https://www.facebook.com/LadySariel). Book cover ahead.

 



Speaking of book covers, I've been chatting with a publisher -- they like my books, they like my covers. But they want me to split my books into smaller nuggets. Volume 2 in particular is really two story arcs - so I don't mind splitting that up. The real reason for the 3 books initially is that I wanted 3 books on my shelf that told a particular arc of the overall story. I could just edit the 3 books down but fans of the series are aghast at that idea. So I am considering recutting the 3 books into 4. And future books will be shorter - more like typical novel lengths instead of the nearly Harry Potter dimensions I am prone to.

The "Tsika reshoot project" has been delayed for over six months now, mostly due to an unhappy collsion of real life interrupts and occasional funding shortages. Mamiko's arm is now healed, she has moved to Warsaw, started a new life, and actually shares a flat with Lady Sariel -- a pair of goblins loose in the big city.

When they moved in, they found a huge cache of ancient clothing and played "flashback dress up" one evening.


I have had some decent book sales and freed up some funds for proper long range planning of the series. Have a preview of "post lolita brutal" Tsika in various test shots. Back to work with me.