Vicky Hamilton Releasing Second Book 'Veiled Allusions' Next Month

10-29-2024

(SRO) Grammy Award-winning and longtime music industry executive, personal manager, and author Vicky Hamilton-who garnered acclaim for her Appetite For Dysfunction memoir (recently optioned by Electric Panda which is working with a prominent writer to develop the book for television)-has set her sights on a new medium with her forthcoming book VEILED ALLUSIONS. It's a collection of poetry set for release via Ingram Spark on November 21, 2024. The 50-plus poems in VICKY's second book represent "me at 15 through me at 66," she says.

"Poetry was my first love," VICKY adds. "I started writing poetry in junior high school and continue to write poems today. I tried to pick the best poetry I had written over my lifetime for this book and included a few of my early poems to show my growth."

VEILED ALLUSIONS will be launched with a free November 21 event overlooking Hollywood, CA-which served as inspiration for much of the book-at DESERT 5 SPOT (6516 Selma Ave.) presented by FOXES MAGAZINE. The evening will kick off at 7:30 PM with a reading and conversation with VICKY accompanied by Los Angeles writer and Punk Hostage Press publisher Iris Berry, followed by a live performance from Midnight Cowgirls, DJ set from Kevin Preston and special guest TBA.

VEILED ALLUSIONS chronicles VICKY's early life, her move to Los Angeles, entre into the music business, love, life, and everything in between. Highlights include the poems "Sharks and Snakes" (see below), "Peahen Rising," "Praise for Groupies," "The Woman's Worth," and "Tryst."

"While dealing with big city life and the misogyny of record business, writing became my solace, my way of working through my problems," VICKY explains. "I had a backstage pass to the underbelly of sex, drugs, and narcissism. Being a woman in a man's business world proved to be the object of a lot of my pain. Writing poetry helped me make sense of it all. Starting a new love affair? Looking at the potential of this new relationship or a failed love affair? What better way to analyze what happened than writing a poem about it."

The book's title was inspired by a conversation, recalls VICKY. "I was on a call with my lawyer (Holly Browde) telling her I was writing this poetry book and telling stories, sometimes about famous people but not naming them by their full name. Holly said, 'Oh, Veiled Allusions (with a A), it's a legal term meaning just that!' I said, 'that's it...the title!' The definition of allusion-an expression designed to call something to mind without mentioning it explicitly; an indirect or passing reference-was a perfect fit."

VEILED ALLUSIONS features cover artwork by Laurie Lipton, with layout and artwork by Cayley Credit, a Denver-based graphic designer and artist. The illustrations that accompany the poems are vivid and moving.

"Cayley is a great artist in her own right," VICKY says. "She really worked really hard to give hints to what the poems were about without hitting it on the nose and I loved working with her on this book and my many other projects."