Nina Bruhns

Pseudonym for Nikita Black.

By profession, I’m really an archaeologist (an Egyptologist) but I’ve worked all kinds of jobs, from real estate to a fabric store clerk to a student counselor at the Fulbright Commission in Stockholm, Sweden. My favorite was a work-study job in grad school (go U of C!), reorganizing the ancient Egyptian pottery at the University of Chicago’s famous Oriental Institute. The pay was lousy, but holding ceramic jars actually touched by Ramses II and King Tut was awe-inspiring and unbelievably exciting. I’ve lived all over the USA, and even spent six years in Europe. I love to travel. Maybe because my great-grandfather was an Hungarian gypsy–my only ancestor who was not Danish. A few years back, my family and I moved to Charleston, South Carolina, which has also been a wonderful adventure. It’s amazing here, and I’ve finally found “home.”

I love archaeology, but doing fieldwork in The Sudan, Africa (my area of specialty within Egyptology) isn’t too practical with children and a husband who has a normal job. So when I thought about what I’d like to do instead, I set out to fulfill my lifelong dream of being a writer. Now I have my adventures through my characters. I can give my heroines the thrills and excitement all women dream of having, but I never have to change out of my jammies to do it. My kind of job!

My novels to date have done me very proud by walking away with such prestigious honors as the National Readers’ Choice Award, the overall Daphne du Maurier Award of Excellence in Mystery/Supense (three times), the Dorothy Parker Award (five times), as well as being nominated for the RITA Award (twice), which is the equivalent of an Oscar nomination in the movie biz…to name just a few. My books have also made it onto the WaldenBooks Bestseller List, and been named favorite book of the year by Romantic Times along with several online review sites.

Sensually, I’ll admit I like to push the envelope in my stories. I think much of the appeal of romance is the seductive fantasy it allows women to indulge in safely. A woman whose days are filled with diapers or spreadsheets, PTA or sales meetings, wants to be swept away in a romantic fantasy for a few hours, into a world where she can quench her thirst for love and romantic adventure, and fulfill her dreams of a man who instinctively satisfies her deepest yearnings. I love writing about feisty heroines who do things I would never dare to do in real life. My heroes are dark and dangerous men who ooze sensuality–but who know how to treat a lady.

This year I’ve started another fabulous adventure, taking the plunge into the larger fiction arena with a romantic thriller trilogy coming out, starting with SHOOT TO THRILL in August ‘09, followed by IF LOOKS COULD CHILL in December ‘09, and A KISS TO KILL in April ‘10, all from New York powerhouse Berkley Publishing (part of Penguin/Putnam). I can’t tell you how excited I am to be stepping onto a broader stage with longer, more complex suspense stories. But not to worry, I will still concentrate mainly on the emotional and sensual sides of the relationship between the hero and heroine along with the page-turning suspense I am known for. For me, there is just nothing better than creating a heart-tugging love story along with a thrill-ride adventure. I hope you agree!

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