Louisa Edwards | Where Does Character Inspiration Come From?

A question I hear a lot is: "Where do you get your inspiration for your characters?" Adam Temple, the hero of Can’t Stand the Heat, is a chef-imagine Anthony Bourdain (for the hotness) crossed with Jamie Oliver (for the sweetness), and a pinch of Gordon Ramsay (for the perfectionism).

When Adam is in the kitchen, he’s in charge. And he loves every second of it. In fact, that’s the key to Adam’s personality-he loves a lot of things. He loves his life, his job, his friends...it’s not hard or frightening for him to fall in love with the heroine, Miranda. He brings passion and enthusiasm to everything he does.

To read more of Louisa's blog please click here.

Karen Kelley l Remembering the Hippie Days

Headbands, bell-bottoms, love beads, and Janis Joplin. Don’t worry about tomorrow, enjoy today. Getting back to nature, organic food….

I don’t know, maybe it’s the economy or something, but Karl and I planted a garden this year. We planted plenty of squash, peppers, and tomatoes because we figured some of the plants would die. They didn’t. Our freezer is almost full of squash (we have a small chest size freezer), but the tomatoes are getting ripe now. I’ve put squash in stir-fry, soups, spaghetti, and pizza. I’m going to need some more squash recipes. I’ve been wondering about squash wine. What do y’all think?

The strangest thing has happened, though. I’m losing weight. By “bulking” up my food with lots of veggies, I don’t get hungry nearly as often. Crazy, isn’t it? Okay, now I have something to control my appetite, I wondered what would happen if I started exercising, just a short workout on the treadmill. I started out at 15 minutes, and that was pushing it. I’m a writer, and I sit on my butt every day so I have no exertion level. Zilch, none. I’ve lost 15 pounds! I’m empowered, look out world!

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TJ Bennett |An Interview With

TJ Bennett is the author of "Dark and Daring Romance" and a former Romance Writers of America Golden Heart nominee. TJ writes "outside the box" historical romance featuring richly detailed settings and unusual subjects. Her critically-acclaimed debut novel, THE LEGACY, was rated a "Buried Treasure 2008" and a “Desert Isle Keeper” by the influential reader site All About Romance. The Historical Novel Society deemed THE LEGACY “a solid historical romance from a promising debut author.” THE LEGACY, set in 16th century Reformation Germany during the Peasant Revolution, was also a finalist in the Gayle Wilson Award of Excellence contest, the Book Buyers Best Award, and the Holt Medallion. TJ’s newest release, THE PROMISE, follows a mercenary during Charles V’s Italian campaigns. THE PROMISE was awarded TOP PICK status by Night Owl Romance and given four stars by Romantic Times BOOKReviews, which called TJ an “author to watch.” Eye on Romance’s Historical Romance Writers’ reviewer says TJ is a “master at writing historical fiction.”

FF: Welcome to Fresh Fiction, TJ. Tell us a little more about your work.

TJ: I’d like to thank Fresh Fiction for having me here today to talk about my latest release, THE PROMISE. This is a story of love, redemption, and the power of a promise. In 1525, a German mercenary (a Landsknecht) in the service of Emperor Charles V must overcome his own wounded heart and convince a reluctant widow to marry him in order to keep a promise to a dying friend. A gypsy’s curse on every man who loves her forces the Spanish beauty to rebuff him, but their passion for one another is stronger than the mysterious misfortune that seems to plague any with the courage to defy the curse. THE PROMISE features the brother of my printer hero from THE LEGACY, my debut novel.


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Karin Tabke | Bouncing Off the Walls!

If someone doesn’t glue me down soon I’m going to hurt myself. Why all the extra energy? Lot’s of reasons. Despite this economic downturn and the lull in publishing, romance has not only survived, it’s thriving!

Take that, literary snobs! Okay, that isn’t nice, but it’s how I feel. Would someone please tell me what is so bad about losing yourself in a passionate love story? One that ends with a Happily Ever After? Hot heroes to die for, heroines we’d like to befriend and that warm fuzzy feeling we get when we read The End. How can anyone have issues with that?

Not me, and I don’t defend romance either. I blow off the snarky comments with a shrug of my shoulders and a suggestion to the naysayer that perhaps they might want professional help to deal with that cynical chip on their shoulder. Okay, maybe that is a wee bit defensive, but it’s true!

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Joy Nash | Birth Order and Writing

Oldest? Middle? Youngest? Only?

Does your position in your birth family determine aspects of your personality? May psychologists believe that it does. A glance around my own birth family (6 siblings), as well as the family I gave birth to (3 kids), tells me there’s a nugget of truth in birth-order/personality theories.

An added bonus: yet another character-creation aid for writers. When I dreamed up the various members of the Santangelo family in A Little Light Magic (Leisure Books, May 26), I kept birth order personality traits in mind. Here’s a quick rundown:

Nick Santangelo (hero of A Little Light Magic): The classic oldest child. Conservative, responsible, workaholic, protector, doesn’t like to take risks. Nick’s a business owner, which is not unusual for an oldest child. He’s used to making decisions and giving orders (having practiced in childhood on his younger brothers). He doesn’t often let loose and just have fun – everything’s tied up in work and responsibility for Nick.

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Dana Marton | Daydreaming

I love a great many things about romance, but I like the fantasy aspect the most. Daydreaming is such a wonderful pastime, isn’t it? And it’s free! I did get to indulge in a big way while writing SAVED BY THE MONARCH.

Since I’m scared to death of flying, I make a point to do it at least once a year. If there’s anything I’ve learned from my intrepid heroines, it’s that life is too short to let fear win. When I travel, I see as people wait for their loved ones at airports, or for strangers holding up signs with names. And since I’m a writer, I see book ideas everywhere…

What if someone went on vacation to Europe, to a small kingdom her parents had left behind when she’d been a very young child? And what if the surprise of a lifetime waited for her when she arrived?

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Deidre Knight | It’s a Crazy, Small, Connected World!

Recently Samhain Publishing released a true book of my heart, BUTTERFLY TATTOO. This edgy and genre-bending contemporary romance is my seventh published book although it was the very first one that my agent shopped on my behalf. The winding path this novel took before becoming published is a true study in how important relationships are, not only in publishing, but in all walks of life.

I thought it might be interesting for my friends and readers to learn the crazy relationship connections that are involved in my road to publication. The story begins with Louisa Edwards, the editor who ultimately bought my first book, PARALLEL ATTRACTION. Louisa is literally one of my favorite people in all of publishing. We’ve worn a lot of hats together, and it’s almost amusing as time goes on to see just how many caps and beanies we can swap.

While Louisa was still an editor at Penguin Putnam, I placed three authors with her, and we always felt that our tastes overlapped and blended almost mystically. So when my agent Pamela Harty—a super goddess among agents, by the way—shared BUTTERFLY TATTOO with her, Louisa fell in love. I mean, head-tripping-over-heels, crazy in love. She fought hard to acquire the novel, but ultimately the book was just too edgy and ahead of its time. Still, Louisa’s love for BUTTERFLY opened a critical door for me and just a few months later, it led to her snapping up my paranormal series that debuted with PARALLEL ATTRACTION.

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Lauren Dane | Relentless

We’ve all got tropes we like – assassin heroes, marriage of convenience, small town romance, older man/younger woman (or vice versa), uber alpha heroes, beta heroes, certain historical periods (me? I love me some wallpaper regencies), friends to lovers, whatever your preferences may be – we’ve all got em.

Relentless is a story of opposites. In Abbie, we have a woman without political power. In the world I built for my Federation books, the haves are Ranked. As in they are members of the ruling Families who hold the reins of political and economic power across all the Federation Universes. Everyone else is unranked and therefore able to rise only so high.

So Abbie is unranked. She’s also a barrister, a public defender if you will and she has spent her adult life working to bring a more representative form of governance to her home ‘Verse. She’s small and fiery and full of passion and conviction.

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Bella Andre | The one where she becomes a romance writer....

My mother and I don't always see eye to eye, but the one thing we always have agreed on are romance novels. We absolutely love them. One of my main memories as a child was going to the library with my mother every Sunday, where she'd exchange her stack of hardcover romances for a new stack of books. As soon as I was old enough to have run through the Judy Blume books, I made my way over to romances. And was hooked. Little did I know that I would be writing them one day. (And that my mother would be reading them. But that's another article, entirely!)

Like many writers, I took the long way around to becoming an erotic romance author. I graduated from Stanford with an Economics degree in 1994, but really, I knew I was never going to become a management consultant. No, I wanted to be a rock star. So I recorded 4 CDs, played 1,000+ shows throughout North America, had a turn at being a star in Brazil, and then said, "Okay, what's next?" Somewhere along the way when my bank account was looking worse for the wear, I worked as a Director of Marketing for a dot com. No, I didn't get rich, but I did decide that come hell or high water I was going to make a living with creative pursuits. So I wrote two books on the music business, sold them, joined a local writer's group and uttered the words, "I could never write fiction. I can't believe that characters just start having a conversation in people's heads. How weird."

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Vanessa Kelly | WHAT IS IT ABOUT SISTERS?

What is it about the topic of sisters that causes so much controversy? My new Regency-set historical, Mastering The Marquess, is partly a story about a pair of sisters, and the life-threatening situation they confront together. Meredith, my heroine, will do anything to keep her little sister Annabel out of harm’s way—even if it means putting her own life at risk. And she does that without blaming Annabel for their predicament, or feeling resentful that she must potentially sacrifice her own chance for happiness.

Meredith’s selflessness didn’t seem odd or out of character to me, likely because I have an older sister who has always been uber-protective of her siblings. She would take on a herd of charging elephants without a second thought if it meant keeping me or my brothers safe. But to my surprise, a few readers of Mastering The Marquess expressed discomfort with Meredith’s willingness to sacrifice herself for Annabel. They thought their relationship was too perfect—that real sisters fought more, and that Meredith should, at the very least, be resentful of Annabel. That took me aback since I can count the number of times I’ve fought with my sister on one hand, with a few fingers still left over. Maybe I’ve been lucky and I just happened to win the grand prize in the sister lottery, or it could be that we’re just a pair of really irritating goody two-shoes!

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The Heroes of Touch a Dark Wolf, Lure of the Wolf, Kiss of Darkness, and Bride of the Wolf by Jennifer St. Giles.

Looking over the four scowling, muscled men surrounding me at the picnic-style table, it seemed to me that their drop-dead sex appeal sucked all of the air from the ranger camp’s dining hall. I fought for a deep breath, started the recorder, and delved right into the interview. The sooner they realized I wasn’t here to steal something sacred from them like their sword or the TV remote, the better off I would be. Provided I could lie that well. The truth was I would have stolen any moment I could in a dark corner. It was my first assignment for Cosmos PQ and I’d felt like a lamb coming into a den of lions when I walked in the door, but now that I’d met them…well that was changing. Jared and Navarre were warriors from the spirit world and Sheriff Sam Sheridan along with Deputy Nick Sinclair were humans from Twilight’s Sheriff’s Department. Before today my closest encounter with the paranormal was hot romance novels, but I had an open mind and always believed where there was smoke there was fire. And boy was there some hot stuff blazing here.

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Elizabeth Hoyt | The Middle Child

So my May book is the third in a four book series set in Georgian England. The series is The Legend of the Four Soldiers and the book is To Beguile a Beast. The other three books are about soldiers coming home from war. But To Beguile a Beast doesn’t have a soldier hero.

Sir Alistair Munroe is a civilian naturalist.

The other three soldier heroes were in the British army when their regiment was decimated by the French and their Indian allies. They volunteered for the army or bought a commission, but in any case, they chose to be there.

Sir Alistair just happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time.

And while the other heroines in The Legend of the Four Soldiers series are aristocratic heroines, Helen Fitzwilliam, the heroine of To Beguile a Beast is no aristocrat.

Nor is she a lady.

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Linda Winstead Jones | BRIDE BY COMMAND

First, thanks to Fresh Fiction for inviting me to be here to blog about Bride by Command, which will be officially released tomorrow. It’s always great to get out and “talk” to readers and other writers.

Bride by Command is the final book in “The Emperor’s Brides” trilogy, which has sent Emperor Jahn of Columbyana on a reluctant quest for an empress. There are two potential brides per book, and naturally, by the third book in the series many of the brides are spoken for by other heroes. At one point I joked with a friend, as we walked around the neighborhood and talked plots, that I should title this one Empress by Default. :-) At the time, the working title was Unbreakable, and as you can see I ended up with a title somewhere in between.

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Shayla Black | BOUND AND DETERMINED

I’m thrilled that on Tuesday, March 3, one of my favorite books will re-release in trade paperback: BOUND AND DETERMINED. Let me give you the 411…then a little story to go along with it.

Berkley HEAT
ISBN-10: 0425226905
ISBN-13: 978-0425226902
Genre: Sexy Contemporary Romance
Re-release Date: March 3, 2009

WANTED FOR KIDNAPPING: A bubbly blonde with a penchant for trouble. May be armed (with good intentions) and dangerously seductive…
Kerry Sullivan is running out of time-and patience. With her brother wrongfully accused of embezzling millions, she can’t face one more humiliating hang-up from the man she’s begging for help. Rafael Dawson may be one of the top electronic security experts in the country — and the only man who can prove her brother’s innocence — but his phone manners are appalling. Damn Yankee. Too bad kidnapping the man isn’t an option. Or is it?

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Maxine Sullivan | THE LONG JOURNEY

If anyone had told me in the early 1980s that it would take me over 20 years to be published, I probably wouldn't have kept on writing. Perhaps. Back then the world was much smaller, and living in Australia it was smaller still and very isolated. There was no internet, no romance writer organisations, it took two weeks for a letter to get to a publisher before waiting months for a reply, and it took me weeks to type up a manuscript on a typewriter from longhand. Patience was something you had to have. And that was a good training ground for the next twenty years as I tried hard to get published.

In the early 1990s the fledgling internet began to trickle information through. Luckily I knew a computer guru who set me up with an internal modem with a speed that is laughable now but was sheer heaven back then, and I started to learn that there was a growing network of writers out there. It was fantastic. The world was coming into my home and suddenly Down Under wasn't so far away.

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Diane Whiteside | Once Upon A Time in A Place Far, Far Away

Historical authors always write about someplace that can’t be seen or felt by their reader. For KISSES LIKE A DEVIL (just published in February 2009 by Brava), I always knew Brian, William and Viola Donovan’s second son, would find his true love in turn-of the-century Europe. But I wanted it to happen in a fictional country, not someplace well-known where I’d have to walk the straight and narrow path of rigid locations and dates set down in an almanac. No, I wanted the fun of making up a country’s map and history all on my own, just like I would for a fantasy. Yes!

I decided to call it Eisengau, or “Iron Mountain” in German. Quite suitable for someplace that made topnotch guns and cannons, then sold them to the rest of the world at big time prices.

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Natale Stenzel | Between a Rock and a Heart Place

First of all, thank you, thank you to Fresh Fiction for hosting me here today. I love visiting this site for scoop on all the latest romance novels by my favorite authors, so I'm thrilled to be blogging here on the release day for BETWEEN A ROCK AND A HEART PLACE, the third book in my series of funny paranormal romances.

As you'd guess almost immediately upon reading the back cover blurb for this story, my heroine Daphne Forbes receives a truly unwelcome gift: renegade puca powers. Oh. Well, that explains everything. Or maybe not? A puca is actually a fantastical character derived from Celtic and British mythologies. In some traditions, the puca is a shape-shifting trickster who preys on travelers; half faery and half human, the creature has a distinctly mischievous, even malicious bent. Does my version of the puca accurately reflect all the mythological accounts? Some of them. Others I cheerfully warped and expanded to suit my own needs. The pucas in my stories have three specific powers: mindspeak (mind-to-mind communication), glamour (creating illusion/molding the thoughts of humans), and shape-shifting.


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Kimber Chin | Invisible - A Race Against Time

Excerpt From Invisible:

“No TV. Sleep Hagen,” she advised. She felt like she was talking to a five year old.

“You tired?” Blond eyebrows raised.

Yeah, of listening to you. “If we're to do this, we'll need all the extra hours we can get.” There was no use of her going if they didn't find the deed.


That gave him pause. “We have fourteen business days, Maeve.”

“Eighteen days in total.” He didn't understand. “And we'll need every single hour in those eighteen days.”

“Every single hour? You think it's going to be that tough?” His thick thigh rested against hers.

Maeve couldn't move any further away. “Yeah.” Tough wasn't the word for it. Birger would have them running.

“You'll be there for the entire time?”

Maeve didn't commit to anything halfway. It was all or nothing. “Yeah.”

“You don't talk much, do you, Maeve?” And he talked way too much. What was his point?

“Sleep.”


*******
Whew, makes me tired simply reading about Maeve and Hagen's adventures!

In my latest contemporary romance, Invisible, Hagen,has fourteen business days to find the deed to his Great-Uncle's house. If he doesn't succeed, he loses the estate to his devious cousin. Fourteen business days, almost three weeks, to find a piece of paper hidden somewhere in the world. It is a race against time.

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Carly Phillips | Romance

Today is my favorite day of the year. Forget the hype. Forget the sensationalism. Forget the commercialism and the chocolate, the roses and gifts. Valentine’s Day is special to me because it symbolizes what I write about all year. LOVE.

Do you want to know the best thing about LOVE? It’s given freely. It doesn’t cost a penny.


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Lauren Willig | Driving by Misdirection, or Oh, the Places You’ll Go!

Most things in my life happen when I’m trying to do something else. I don’t even mean the big things, like planning to write a dissertation and coming out with a series of romance novels instead (ought I to get an RD for that? I like the sound of Romanciae Doctor), or the fact that if I meant to go right, I usually walk left (I find all sorts of new and interesting places that way). This happens to me in my writing, too. What I wind up writing is seldom exactly what I intended it to be.

Take my first book for example, the lengthily titled Secret History of the Pink Carnation. I very firmly told my agent that what I had produced was a “traditional Regency romance”. My agent is a very kind, patient sort of person. Instead of making snorting noises, he said, very gently, “Are you sure?” I was quite sure. “Um…” he said, flipping through the mental filofax for Tactful Ways to Deal With Deluded Authors. “Are you really sure?” That’s how I found out that what I’d really written was Napoleonic-era historical fiction/ romantic suspense/ mystery/ chick lit. No can quite agree on what it is, but it sure ain’t a traditional Regency. In a word, ooops.

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Cathie Linz | The Appeal of the wild bad boy hero

What is it about wild bad boys that is so appealing? One multi-published author friend of mine told me early on in my career that if a hero is perfect then the heroine is pretty dense not to fall for him right away. But bad boys are always tempting good girl heroines to cross over to their wicked side of the street. They create the conflict and sparks of opposites attracting.

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Beth Kery | Do You Believe in the Magic of Romance?

Does true romance really exist? Or is it just the stuff and nonsense of romance novels?

I do believe in romance, or I wouldn’t write romance novels. Having said that, I have to admit there are a few qualifications that go along with that attestation. A romance is a story where people connect in a way that’s beyond that of the common-place and casual. I think we dream about making that profound connection with another person. It brings us out of ourselves; let’s us see the world in a whole new way. It seems to me that’s what readers want in a romance—to vicariously experience that moment of intense connection, to feel alive, to see oneself as unique and beautiful through the eyes of another.

But is romance escapism? Wouldn’t it be better to see the world for what it is—a place where war and famine exists, where people daily take advantage, lie and steal from one another? As a child, we slowly learn the lesson that ‘life isn’t fair.’ What’s more, life can be ugly, cold and harsh. By the time we’re adults, we’re wary about being seen as a pushover…someone who’s foolish enough to believe in dreams. We know from firsthand experience that if a political candidate should mention the word ‘dream’ in their speech, they’ll be attacked by their hard-nosed opponent as being weak or unsubstantial.

But it’s mainly because life can be harsh (or routine and boring) that the romance novel has its appeal. Almost everyone knows the thrill of going to a movie theatre and escaping for a few hours to a place of excitement, romance and adventure.

Of course, there’s always the risk that a person mistakes the 'escape' for 'reality.' This is one of the main criticisms about the romance novel. Sure, most of us recognize the fantasy elements…but what about the person who actually expects a knight in shining armor or an alpha (or two) with smoking pistols in their pocket to come strutting through their bedroom door?

What if she’s unable to see the cute, hopeful guy who’s into her big-time because she’s waiting for some amalgamation of every romance hero she’s every read?

For me, this isn’t much of an argument against romance novels. It does happen, and it’s unfortunate. But I can’t help but notice that people watch Clint Eastwood, Angelina Jolie or Harrison Ford incessantly, and rarely do they become convinced they’re a bad-ass who is going to save the world. That’s because the action-adventure hero is as much a fantasy as the romantic hero (and of course, these two roles blend together nicely.) It’s a ‘type,’ a myth that we as human beings recognize as easily as the warrior-hero or the brave, beautiful princess.

So back to my original question, “Does romance really exist?” I know that it does—just like other virtues, such as heroism, courage and altruism really exist. It’s an ideal, one that we should strive for in our relationships; not just passively wait for like a princess in a tower.

Romance is also a feeling. Sure, it’s something that happens between two people, but it’s also a person’s actions or a place that evokes a feeling of heightened awareness of oneself…the infinite possibilities of life. There’s a certain glamour to romance…a sense of something higher. It doesn’t have to be huge to be romantic. I have a scene in my upcoming Berkley time travel called DARING TIME where the early twentieth century heroine dances by herself, imagining being in her lover’s arms. It’s set in a lovely old ballroom and her satin, ermine-bordered dress swishes along the polished wood floor. That’s romance to me.

Romance lives. Sometimes it might even look and feel like a romance-novel-romance. Oftentimes, it’s as diverse, quirky, or quiet as the people who are romancing. Bolder, idealized romances in novels don’t take away from the beauty of that. Everyone has the ability to be the hero and heroine of their own life, to inject the dream into everyday existence…even if it is in some small, personal way.

So what do you think? Does romance exist in your life?

Beth Kery
www.bethkery.com/

Cynthia Eden | Let Your Inner Demon Out

"Let your inner demon out"—That’s what Cara Maloan, the heroine from my new Kensington Brava release, MIDNIGHT SINS, would really like to encourage all women to do.

Cara thinks ladies should start living for themselves, doing what they want—and having one heck of a good time.

Something you should probably know…Cara’s a succubus. Yep, she’s an immortal demon who gains power from sneaking into a man’s dreams and stealing his sensual energy. Hey—it’s a job, someone has to do it. :-)

Cara is absolutely one of the most interesting characters I’ve ever had the pleasure of writing. She was fun—definitely fun—but, the lady also had her hang-ups. You see, she’s a sex demon at heart, but Cara wants more than fleeting pleasure from a man. She wants love, and love isn’t something that a succubus usually gets to experience.

Ah, such is the twisted fate of my characters. When I write about my characters, I love to think in terms of opposites for them. Vampires with blood phobias…sex demons who want love…a vampire hunter who finds her perfect lover in—ahem—a vampire. Opposites.

But don’t worry too much about Cara…I gave her a good hero. She just has to get him to love her. And, of course, she has to prove that she’s not guilty of murder. Because someone is killing in the city of Atlanta—and that someone is setting Cara up for the crimes.

Falling in love, proving her innocence, catching a killer…all in a day’s work for my demon.

Now don’t you want to let your demon out? With Black Friday shopping almost upon us, whether you like it or not—she may come out. Especially once you start fighting for those parking places and those sale items…

Happy hunting! And Happy Thanksgiving to those in the U.S.!

Cynthia Eden
http://www.cynthiaeden.com/
MIDNIGHT SINS—Available 11/25/08 from Kensington Brava
Let your inner demon out…

Sara Bennett | Angst or Not

Thanks for inviting me to blog! My name is Sara Bennett and I write historical romance for Avon. I have to confess that I tend to write books that have a lot of angst in them. I try not to. I tell myself that I’ll lighten up, write one of those bubbly, sunny books. But no matter how I try the angst creeps in. Before I know it the hero has suffered some terrible trauma or the heroine is struggling with the memory of a miserable childhood. For some reason my creative voice tends to dwell on the darkside.

My November book is called Her Secret Lover, and is the final in my series of Aphrodite books. Aphrodite is an infamous courtesan living in Victorian London, and she has lots of angst in her life. The first three books (Lessons in Seduction, Rules of Passion and Mistress of Scandal) told the stories of Aphrodite’s three daughters and some of the issues covered are, well, dark. The next book (A Seduction in Scarlet) deals with widowhood, the expectations of others, assassination attempts . . . yes, there are some angsty subjects in this one as well. Now I’m saying goodbye to Aphrodite, but I believe I’ve written a wonderful farewell in Her Secret Lover, a rollercoaster ride of suspicion and mistrust and misunderstandings and, you guessed it, angst.

I’m looking forward to my next series, beginning in June 2009, and I’m going to try for lighthearted. Maybe this time I’ll manage it.

Come and visit me at http://www.sara-bennett.com/ I have contests, updates, and excerpts.

Sara Bennett

Tessa Radley | O for a beaker full of the warm South…

I wasn't thinking about Keats' Ode to a Nightingale when I first started to write MISTAKEN MISTRESS. But when I conceive of a story one of the first things that I have to decide is where to set the book. For me, the atmosphere of the setting will permeate the entire story.

The Saxon Brides is about a family who run a vineyard, Saxon's Folly. So I knew I wanted the homestead to have a sense of family history and go back at least a couple of generations. I had a great deal of fun researching the locations where I could possibly set the books.

My first thought was of the Napa Valley. I'd read about it, but because I like to be able to visualize the place where the story takes place my big stumbling block was I'd never visited the Napa and I wasn't going to have time to go stake it out.

Next, I considered the Barossa in Australia. It's awesome. Named for the Battle

of Barrosa which Colonel Light, Surveyor General of the day, fought in during 1811, it boasts some of the oldest existing Shiraz vines in the world.

And then of course there is the Loire Valley with its fertile valley and rich history…those chateaux, the Frenchmen, the romance...it nearly won.

I finally settled on the Hawkes Bay region in New Zealand simply because it is one of my favorite places on earth. I adore the art deco jewel that is the town of Napier. And it's a place I've taken to visiting fairly frequently so when I close my eyes I can visualize the hills, the sea, the sky and the vines.

Against this background I could see Alyssa, the heroine of MISTAKEN MISTRESS, striding up to the Victorian homestead and gate-crashing a masked ball at the winery. I could imagine the reaction of Joshua, my hero, to this woman who wasn't leaving until she'd gotten what she came for.

Do you have a favorite place? One that you escape to when you lean back and close your eyes? And if you could choose to visit a region anywhere in the world, where would you go?

Once you've posted your comment you might want to check out my October contest being run by Fresh Fiction for a chance to win a $15 Barnes & Noble Gift card and my BILLIONAIRE HEIRS trilogy. Click to read an excerpt from my October book MISTAKEN MISTRESS.

Tessa Radley

Sharon Ashwood | Making Paranormal Sandwiches

There’s a lot to be said for the submarine sandwich. There can be as much bread, cheese, veggies and cold cuts as the maker desires. If you want two kinds of cheese, go ahead. Mayo and mustard? Why not? The only limit is appetite.

Which is all good until your boss points to a sandwich box made for the usual peanut butter and jelly sized affair. That moment of “hmm, how am I going to get this sucker in there?” sums up my experience of writing the paranormal romance. I have to tell a many-layered story as clearly and efficiently (and as briefly!) as I can.

For any author, there’s a lot on the kitchen counter when they’re building the universe of their book: there’s character, plot, and setting, plus:

• In a romance, there’s the whole fall-in-love experience.
  
• If it’s a historical novel, the author needs to bring the past alive, right down to the horseshoe nails, gun smoke and corsets.
  
• If it’s science fiction, fantasy, or paranormal, there’s the whole supernatural universe, with its vast array of creatures, rules of magic, and other cultures to explain and make compelling.
  
• For a good paranormal or urban fantasy romance, where you have most of the above, your metaphorical book sandwich is a definite clubhouse. Yum, and don’t hold the pickles.

But wait: just because an author has a lot of ground to cover, that doesn’t mean they get more pages to tell their tale. In fact, many editors are careful to put the word count they want right in a writer’s contract. How many words? Not enough! Why do they do this? Long books cost more to print (and the reader pays for that) and also not everyone wants to read a really long book.

Having a word limit does challenge an author’s skill, and that’s not a bad thing. It’s made me write smarter—but inevitably, things get left out. When the dust settled from writing my February 09 release, RAVENOUS, I had a spare demon and an entire unopened box of vampires. Plus, there was a lot to say about my universe and the people in it that I hadn’t even begun to cover. It was like I’d been whittled down to, well, half a sandwich. Thank heavens there’s a book two!

What’s an author to do with all their leftover ideas? One solution to the world-building overflow is to take all that extra content and post it on the web. Games, maps, character interviews and background histories are popping up on web sites more and more often—and that’s not the only outlet for extras. Marvel Comics has picked up some popular authors and are releasing comic books based on writers like Laurell K. Hamilton. If TV shows and movies have tie-ins, why not books? Can action figures be far behind? In trade magazines for the book industry, I’ve seen this many-pronged approach hailed as the future of reading—books aren’t just on paper anymore, but require a multimedia event.

As an author, that’s a lot to explore. So far, I have my own Monsterpedia page at www.sharonashwood.com/ that fills in snippets of information about the RAVENOUS world. I’m sure I’ll do other things as the series goes along. Overall, I’m glad there are so many ways to communicate with readers, and I enjoy blogging, and multimedia content is fun to experience and to create. But what about the story?

This “book plus web” approach is nifty from my side of the fence, but would more book and fewer extras work better for readers? Or is the opposite true? I like to think of novels as one-stop-shopping or, to go back to my original metaphor, the full meal deal. Is that view out of date?
What about you? Thumbs up or thumbs down on putting important book series information on the web? Should it be web-only, or just repeat what’s already on the page?

Sharon Ashwood

Deborah Cooke aka Claire Delacroix | New Worlds from Familiar Names - and Familiar Faces with New Names!

One of the interesting things about the popular fiction market is the way that it changes. Tastes in fiction are fluid, and constantly on the move as people develop interests in new areas, or ideas come into fashion. I think that this dynamism, while it can be frustrating, is also fascinating.

And it offers authors the chance to try new things.

Many of you will be familiar with the medieval romances that I wrote in the 1990's. I wrote a lot of them, because I had so much fun. What I liked about writing medievals was the world-building, that challenge of creating a slice of a lost time and place so tangible that readers might feel as if they were standing right there. I loved doing the research, and I really enjoyed weaving myths and legends into the fabric of my fictional worlds. I particularly loved my heroes. My guys were usually wounded or otherwise compromised, and they were always caught between a couple of apparently bad choices.

So, when the historical market became less vibrant than once it was, it's not really surprising that I focussed on the challenge of bringing a fictional world to life on the page, on a world that would require me to move into the university library for a while, on exploring a big slice of mythology and legend, and on noble heroes caught between a couple of seemingly bad choices.

This year, I launched two new series, one of which is being marketed under Claire Delacroix - a familiar name with a new world - and the other of which is being marketed under Deborah Cooke. I think they both have a lot in common with my previously published work.

The Dragonfire series by Deborah Cooke (http://www.deborahcooke.com/) features dragon shape shifter heroes in a contemporary setting. These dragon shape shifters are called the Pyr, and are an ancient race which has become divided over time. They're charged to defend the treasures of the earth, which the good Pyr believe includes humans. The Slayers, which are Pyr turned bad, believe that humans - and the Pyr who defend them - must be exterminated to save the planet. The Pyr are male, and they mate with human women - the mark of meeting their destined mate is a sensation of heat called the firestorm. This series begins with the Pyr on the cusp of a transition, a last chance to save the earth in the big battle with the Slayers. Each book focusses on the firestorm of one hero: each Pyr hero is both noble caught between two bad choices in each book - his duty to his fellow Pyr and the demands of his courtship of what is usually a skeptical mate. I'm loving the challenge of making these fantastical men seem real and human, even with their abilities, and loving the interaction of their mythology with our own. The series is a lot of fun to write. Dragonfire began last February with KISS OF FIRE, and continued in August with KISS OF FURY. The third book in the trilogy is KISS OF FATE which will be released in February 2009.

FALLEN - first of my new trilogy from TOR - is set in a gritty urban future, a post-nuclear world without a lot of hope for humanity. Unbeknownst to most people, the Apocalypse is close at hand, and volunteers from the angels are sacrificing their wings, taking flesh to help save humanity. This isn't the kind of thing that Lilia Desjardins, our heroine, is inclined to believe. She's outspoken and idealistic, a pragmatist who believes that her estranged husband's death wasn't the accident that the police have determined it to be. She sets out to discover the truth, at any price. The most formidable obstacle to her quest proves to be a homicide detective named Adam Montgomery. Montgomery is one of those angel volunteers, caught between two bad choices - his attraction to Lilia, a woman suspects he shouldn't trust, and the completion of his earthly mission on earth. Will they learn to trust each other in time?

These books are indisputably new directions for me, but I think they show the hallmarks of my earlier work. They certainly are a lot of fun to research and to write, and the challenge of something new is invigorating. Writing these books has been a great creative adventure for me - it would be an even better ride if you joined me.

Happy reading and all my best -
Deborah aka Claire
http://www.delacroix.net/blog

Excerpt:

FALLEN
KISS OF FIRE
KISS OF FURY
KISS OF FATE

Bella Andre | The Idea Bank

Have you ever read a really great book and asked yourself, "How'd she come up with that fantastic idea?" I know I have. Which is why I thought it'd be fun to ask myself the same question. Here goes:

TAKE ME (in which a full-figured heroine gets the guy in Italy): I had a dream about a woman who had lusted after a guy her whole life, but he'd never noticed her. And then one day, the tables turned completely, and he had to chase her. Once he caught her, while in a very passionate embrace, he said, "You're mine, all mine." MINE, ALL MINE was the working title of the book - and the title I sold with. The dream gave me the theme. From there I had to figure out characters and plot.

TEMPT ME, TASTE ME, TOUCH ME (three women on a road trip to the Wine Country find love with three local men): I had just finished watching the move "Sideways" with my husband when I turned to him and said, "Wouldn't it be interesting to flip that movie on its ear and make it a girl's road trip through the wine country instead?"

RED HOT REUNION (old flames reconnect at their ten year college reunion): I had just gotten the invite to my ten year college reunion. ;-) And I thought, what if two young lovers who parted badly met again where they originally fell in love? Especially if the heroine is desperate to escape her life.

GAME FOR ANYTHING (first Bad Boys of Football book): Swear to god this one came to me in the shower! I suddenly thought, what if an image consultant is brought in to clean up a star quarterback's act - but it turns out they have a secret past?

GAME FOR SEDUCTION (second Bad Boys of Football book): The hero of Game For Anything is quick with the lines, almost flashy. I knew the hero of this book would be his opposite - tall, dark, and handsome, of course, but a man of fewer words. Silent and steady. But who to match him with? And what kind of situation could I put him in that would be both fun and sexy? My sister-in-law, Kathy, came through for me one day when she said "Older hero, younger heroine? What about a Bull Durham story with a love triangle?" Once she said that, the story started to flow like crazy.

WILD HEAT (first book in my Hotshots: Men of Fire romantic suspense series, coming May 2009): My agent and I spend a lot of time on the phone chatting about ideas. For years she's been saying, "What about firefighters?" I started researching different kinds of firefighters and once I found out about Hotshots - elite wildland firefighters who fight the fires everyone else runs from - I knew I had to write about them. They thrive on a adrenaline! They're bound by the brotherhood. As far as I'm concerned, they're the SEALS of firefighting. From there, it wasn't difficult to find the right story about an arson investigator and the lead Hotshot, who also happens to be her primary suspect for a wildfire raging through Lake Tahoe.

EXTREME HEAT (2nd book in the Hotshots series, coming late 2009): I'm writing this one right now. It's got a lot of Man vs. Wild elements.

Some ideas certainly come faster than others. The dream that turned into TAKE ME, for example, was a much-appreciated gift. Where and how do you get your best ideas?

Please drop by my website and blog at www.bellaandre.com/blog! And be sure to sign up for my contest (I'm giving away a beautiful necklace and earring set) before the end of the month.

;-) Bella Andre
http://www.bellaandre.com/

GAME FOR SEDUCTION ~ out now!
GAME FOR ANYTHING ~ Cosmo's Red Hot Read!

Barbara Pierce | A SILENT CHARACTER: THE ENGLISH COUNTRY HOUSE

In many ways, I view the country house as a silent character in my books. Although its role is often relegated to the background, the country house represents different things to different characters. For Amara Claeg in Tempting the Heiress, the family’s country house, Arras Green was a tragic reminder of Lord Cornley’s violent assault. In A Lady Mischief, Foxenclover was both a prison and sanctuary for young Maddy, while it represented a reclaimed birthright to her brother Tipton. Lady Fayre in Wicked Under the Covers viewed Arianrod simply as her beloved home, whereas in my current release, Scandalous by Night, Lord Everod was banished from Worrington Hall. The house became a symbol of all that he had lost.

Once I’ve locked down the plot and characters for a new story, I set to work on creating the various country houses and London town houses that will be featured. This is a great deal of fun for me because it mixes history with my imagination. It also has given me a chance to set up at least a half a dozen dream houses. Most of what I design never makes it into my books. This step is mainly a personal tool to help me visualize the setting. What’s relevant to the characters does go into the book, since I am telling the story through their point of view.

For fun, I’ve selected three country houses that have exteriors and interiors that never cease to inspire me. The first one is Chatsworth House. With four hundred and fifty years of history, the country seat of the Dukes of Devonshire and the family are both worth studying. Its extensive gardens are renowned throughout England. Chatsworth was used as Mr. Darcy’s Pemberley in the 2005 version of Pride and Prejudice. The house also makes an appearance in Keira Knightley’s new film, The Duchess.

Levens Hall is a manor house located in the county of Cumbria. The original house was built by the Redman family in 1350. The Bellingham family added to the house during the Elizabethan period. Additional renovations were done in the 17th and 19th centuries. One of the more interesting features of Levens Hall is its topiary gardens. The gardens date back to 1694, and are some of the oldest in the world.

Another one of my personal favorites is Stourhead. The 2,650 acre estate is located in Wiltshire. The Palladian mansion was designed by Colen Campbell and built by Nathaniel Ireson circa 1720. The house was gutted by fire in 1901, but the Hoare family rebuilt the house in its original style. The natural landscape gardens are breathtaking.

Do you have a favorite English country house, castle, or garden? Has a book ever inspired you to decorate your own home in a certain style or design a garden?

Barbara Pierce
www.barbarapierce.com/
www.myspace.com/barbarapierce

Michelle Maddox | Bad Boys

I'm not sure what it is about bad boys that make them such great characters. In real life, the bad boys - at least to the extent they're shown in fiction - wouldn't make such wonderful boyfriends or husbands. But in the imaginary worlds of novels, they're just what the reader (or writer) ordered!

I remember reading on somebody's blog a very important sentence that changed everything for me, and it was something along the lines of "books are fantasies." I'm not sure why that clicked for me, or why I hadn't made the complete connection before, but it made everything very clear. We might not want the hardened criminal with a heart of gold, the devastatingly handsome demon, or the world-weary master vampire in real life. But we might want him in our fantasies. He represents adventure, excitement, and intrigue - and let's face it, most people don't have much of that in real life. Nor, if we were suddenly given the chance, would we want it!

But in the safety of our imaginations, a rip-roaring adventure with the baddest of bad boys, is exactly what works.

In my Michelle Maddox release, COUNTDOWN, my characters are forced to play a reality gameshow where their lives are at stake. My heroine finds herself paired with a major bad boy - a convicted mass murderer. You can't get much worse than that. However, she starts to think there might be more to the story. Is he really as bad as she's told? Did he even commit the crimes he's served four years for before being released to compete in the game? After all, if he's so bad, why is he trying to protect her?

Food for thought for my heroine as she embarks on the adventure of her life - for her life.

And, after all, this is a romance novel.

COUNTDOWN was loads of fun to write from my very safe desk in my very safe home. ;-) Check out the first chapter on my website.

Happy reading!

Michelle Maddox

aka: Michelle Rowen

www.michellemaddox.com/

www.michellerowen.com/

Angie Fox | How I sold my first book.

Or: Everything I needed to know, I learned from George Costanza

I’ve always loved to read, so it was no surprise to anyone when I eventually decided to write a book of my own. When I did, I attacked it head on. I planned, I worked, I outlined more than any woman should. The end result? I wrote three mysteries that didn’t sell.

I don’t know how many of you watch Seinfeld, but there is a time in George’s life where he decides what he’s been doing hasn’t been working, so he decides to do the opposite. That’s what I did with my books. I’d been writing serious mysteries, with lots of science and research involved. They’d generated some interest, enough to almost, almost sell. But nothing quite happened.

To take my mind off the latest mystery making the rounds with agents, I decided to write something completely different, a funny paranormal romance where I could build my own world and make up my own rules. I fell in love with the idea of a preschool teacher who is forced to run off with a gang of geriatric biker witches and The Accidental Demon Slayer was born.

Instead of a 20-page plot outline, I had a 5-page list of ideas, one of which included “but little did they know, all the Shoney’s are run by werewolves.” Instead of following the rules, I broke a few. Instead of painstakingly writing over the course of a year, I giggled my way through the book and had a complete manuscript in five months.

The opening chapters did well in contests and caught the eye of an editor, who asked to see the whole thing. That same editor bought the book less than a week after I finished it.

I still can’t believe The Accidental Demon Slayer is a July 2008 release.

While I’m not sure Seinfeld is the best place to go for life lessons, I really do think there’s something to be said for following your instincts – in writing and in everything else.

Angie Fox
http://www.angiefox.com/

Kimberly Killion | Curse it!

Let's talk about Expletives.

"God's Hooks"
'''Ods toes"
"Piss 'n nettles"
"Christ-all-bleeding-mighty!"

Little curses and habitual ticks can bring a character to life. As an author writing in the Medieval time period, I chose the above expletives for my debut book, HER ONE DESIRE. Let's start with the first one: GOD'S HOOKS: Derived from the hooks (or nails) used to fasten Christ to the cross. This particular expletive later evolved into "Gadzooks". Many of these "God's"expressions were reduced to 'od's or odds as in "'ods toes".

Of course, part of the fun is making up expletives. I used 'Piss 'n nettles' for one of the secondary characters in HER ONE DESIRE. I tossed words around for days trying to fit 'John' with the perfect expression. Not only does a character tend to use a favorite expression, but also favorite sayings, like: "Are ye wowf, man?" Simply from the way it's written, the reader might be able to guess its meaning. 'Wowf' was Scottish slang used to describe someone who might be insane, crazy, mentally ill or deranged.

Along with researching forms of speech, I often mull over a character's nervous tick before I ever start a book. (Sometimes for days at a time) I like to know as much as possible about a character before I write that first line. The heroine, Lady Lizbeth Ives, in HER ONE DESIRE is a bit skittish.(You would be, too, if you were the daughter to the Lord High Executioner.)'Lizzy' twists her sleeves and counts when she is nervous or afraid which adds to the humor of the book as well as the tension. In turn, a more3-dimensional character has been created.

Another bit of research I truly enjoy is coming up with creative words for particular body parts. While you might be able to guess what a pillicock is or maybe even a set of cullions, can you guess what a nock is? Or how about a twanger or tewel? I'll give away a signed copy of HER ONE DESIRE to the person who can reveal the answer at my -

ONE DAY ONLY BLOG CONTEST -

Since I'm in a celebratory mood, I'll be picking two more commenter's names at random to win a copy of HER ONE DESIRE. Thanks for joining me today! Now, tell me what's the most memorable expletive you can recall ever reading? Or, if you're an author, what curse words did you use for your characters?

If you would like to know a wee bit more about HER ONE DESIRE, here is the back cover blurb:

Astride a stolen horse, encircled by the shackled arms of Broderick Maxwell, a Scottish spy escaping certain death in the Tower of London, Lizbeth Ivesrides to the north, hidden by the merciful darkness. By stealth and by cunning, the daughter of the Lord High Executioner has undone her father's cruel work, compelled to save the innocent man with her. There is no turning back-they are bound as one in his iron chains. Consumed by mortal fear, driven by passion, they disappear into the night.

A single raven follows them. Is it an omen? Or only the first of those who would capture them? They must ride on. If captured, they will face death together. But if they reach Scotland, he will claim her for his own. forever.

Need more!!?! Watch the book trailer

If you'd like to read an excerpt, Click Here

For more on contests visit my websites at www.kimberlykillion.com/

Happy July!
Kimberly Killion

Karin Tabke | Hot Cops and Hot Knights

I want to start off by thanking everyone here at Fresh Fiction for inviting me as a guest blogger today! I’m really happy to be here.

So, let me ask you this: What is it we find so sexy about those sexy cops and to die for knights??

Hmm, could it be the washboard abs and the muscular arms? Or those brilliant piercing eyes that seem to look right into our souls? Maybe it’s that thick dark hair we want to run our fingers through. Or the uniform or the chain mail?

Or maybe it’s more, much, much more. Could it be the many layers that comprise an alpha’s true character? You know? that command presence they have when they walk into a situation and immediately know what to do: The bad guy is apprehended, the damsel in distress is no longer in one kind of distress but now a completely different kind of distress.

I think for me, what makes a guy sexy, whether he is a knight of William the Conqueror or a beat cop, is his brain. It’s all connected to how he works. How he thinks. His compassion, his take control attitude, his willingness to stand for something and fight for it, but mostly, his passion for everything he does. Whether it’s work, play or love.

A man who is unwaveringly committed is sexy. A man who when he walks into a room does not have to roar to let everyone know he is the king of the jungle, he just is, is damn sexy. That understated rawness and power that every woman wants to tame is beyond hot.

He could be wearing a five thousand dollar Italian suit or holey Wranglers and a faded tee-shirt. A sexy man looks good in anything. He wears it all, well. He has that charisma that smile that way to make each woman he makes eye contact with feel as if she were the one. Be still my beating heart. A sexy man can make a woman forget her name, where she lives and what she had for breakfast. He can take a confident over-achiever and reduce her to a pile of stuttering mush. He can make a wallflower bloom. He can make grandmothers blush and wish they were forty years younger and make a school girl wish she would hurry and grow up.

Sigh, it is because of men just as I have described that I write romance. I fall in love each time I write a book. How about you? What makes a guy sexy, and tell us who your all time favorite romance hero is.

Karin
http://www.karintabke.com/

Shari Anton | Whatever made you think you could write a novel?

How often have you read a bio where the author states she's been making up stories since she was in elementary school? I'm not one of those authors.

Sure, I got good grades in English class. I didn't grumble when the teacher assigned a five-page essay because that wasn't torture for me. Reading literature was a joy and the book reports were a breeze. However, if someone had told me then that I would someday write a 400 page manuscript and have it published I would have laughed hysterically.

I needed a practical education. Like many females of my age group, I took the courses needed to get into college along with a bunch of secretarial courses as back up if the college thing didn't work out. Including Gregg shorthand. Does anyone remember shorthand? I didn't think so.

Well, college didn't work out. And I got married and had kids. So over the course of the years I've had several jobs – sometimes part time, and occasionally full time, alternating with the times I needed to be a full time Mom (which I was so glad I was able to do and wouldn't give up those years for anything!).

During one of the Mom times I got hooked on Romance, especially historical romance. I can remember trolling the book aisle at K-Mart for any cover that featured a cowboy, knight, or pirate. Hmmm … I still tend to do that, but now I'm usually in the bookstore, and I have my favorite authors, and there all those lovely Victorian and Regency books … but I digress.

One of my full time jobs was for a brand new company. We needed everything from purchase orders and invoices to marketing brochures and technical manuals. As you can imagine, some of the writing I was doing was rather dry and boring. Looking for help, I decided to take a creative writing class, thinking I could pick up some tips on how to jazz things up.

Discovering how much fun writing fiction could be was like the proverbial slap upside the head. The poetry section was interesting and the essays weren't challenging. Then we began writing short stories. Ideas flowed. Writing was exciting. My stories were always too long and convoluted for the form. I needed to write a novel. To my amazement, I sold EMILY'S CAPTAIN (March 1997), and suddenly had the writing career I'd dreamed of. MAGIC IN HIS KISS (July 2008), is my twelfth novel.



I sometimes look back at my temerity and wonder where the passion, determination, and confidence came from. But then, no one has ever accused me of being shy or timid, either. A friend of mine says he tries to do something every day that he's just a little afraid to do. What have you done lately that gave you a moment's pause – but you forged ahead and completed the task, or survived despite the danger, or changed your life – and you're so glad you persevered?

Shari Anton
www.sharianton.com/

Jenna Petersen | Accidentally Dark: Or I Didn’t Mean to Make Him Alpha

I am funny. Okay, I may not be stand-on-a-stage-do-The-Last-Comic-Standing funny, but I can tell a funny story and I have a quirky sense of humor. I really like to laugh and I am silly more often than I care to admit in a public forum. When people meet me and they find out what I do, they often assume that I write light-hearted romantic comedies with a sarcastic sense of humor that matches my life "voice".

They are wrong.

No, I don’t write romps. I don’t do slapstick. I can’t tell funny to save my life. Instead, I write highly sensual, intensely emotional, dark historical romances set in the Regency period for Avon Books and Avon Red (erotic romances, those are written as Jess Michaels). People emailed me after my debut, Scandalous, came out in October 2005 and told me I made them cry. And I was happy about it!

So how did this happen? How did I go from being a reasonably happy person with a high sense of the absurd and the amusing to writing super dark romance?

I tell you what, I blame the men. That’s right, it’s not my fault, it’s my heroes. You see, I tried my hand at a few light stories in the dark days before Avon came calling. I sat down and I told myself that there would be no angst. There would be no brooding. There would just be a nice, normal, sexy hero with a sense of humor.

And then he whispered to me, “By the way, I accidentally killed my brother three years ago. I’ve never quite gotten over the guilt.”

No!!! Bad hero. BAD. You aren’t supposed to be wracked by a guilty secret. You aren’t supposed to be torn apart and broken by emotional turmoil. And yet, as soon as he said that… I knew it was true. And it made him far more compelling to me. Although that story never sold, ten books have and all of them feature the common thread of a emotionally tortured hero in one way or another.

My latest book, Lessons From A Courtesan (which just came out Tuesday) features a hero, the Earl of Baybary, Justin Talbot, who isn’t any different. Like many of my previous heroes, he has a dark secret that he’s trying to keep. He has a complicated relationship with the members of his family. Oh yes, and he was blackmailed into a marriage of convenience with his wife, Victoria, who just showed up in London posing as a courtesan.

Well, that’s just enough to make any man dark and brooding, isn’t it?

So, as a reader do you like the tortured, brooding, darkly sexy hero? What do you think draws us to these alpha male types? And is there a twelve-step program for writers who are addicted to tormenting their characters?

Jenna
www.jennapetersen.com/

Cindi Myers | Research and The Writer

I started my career writing historical romances for Berkley and Kensington, under the name Cynthia Sterling. I’m a history buff and I loved researching the backgrounds for my books — figuring out what kind of clothes everyone wore, what they ate and what they did for entertainment. Those kinds of details are why I love reading historical novels as well.

Then I switched to writing contemporary romance. I thought this would require much less research, so I was shocked to find out I was wrong. Yes, I seldom have to look up specific historical detail, but if I send my hero and heroine to a restaurant for a meal, I end up browsing menus of real restaurants for ideas. Many of my books are set in real cities. For example, my current release, A Soldier Comes Home, from Harlequin Superromance, is set in Colorado Springs. Many times while writing that book, I pulled out a map to find the name of a street or location of a landmark so that I could describe it accurately.

While you can get away with fudging minor details in a historical novel, it’s much tougher to fake it in a contemporary book. Too many people will spot your mistake. You have to get name brands right, regional differences correct, and describe automobiles and clothes accurately.

A Soldier Comes Home is about Captain Ray Hughes, who receives a Dear John letter while he's serving in Iraq. He comes home to an empty house and a three-year old son he scarcely knows and has to pick up the pieces of his life again. He meets Chrissie Evans, the young widow next door whose husband was killed very early in the war. They're attracted to each other, but each has to get past their own private pain in order to love again.

Researching this book started when I was first forming the idea. The Rocky Mountain News ran a series or articles about our soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan. I clipped those articles and saved them and that became the beginning of my research. One of the articles was about soldiers who received Dear John letters. I thought their stories were heartbreaking and I really wanted to make things better for them. I couldn’t do that in real life, but I could give one soldier — Captain Hughes — a happy ending in the pages of my book. Other articles in the series were added to the file as more research into the lives of soldiers and their families here at home.

The Internet has really revolutionized research. I spent time on blogs written by soldiers and their families. I also emailed former and current military personnel. I visited the Fort Carson website, which had links to all kinds of great resources for soldiers and their families. I pulled up pictures of Colorado Springs to inspire me as I wrote.

I thinking getting these details right adds so much to a story.

My question for you is — do you notice mistakes more in historical or contemporary novels?

Cindi Myers

Lisa Plumley | Isn't it funny?

I have a confession to make: Most of my friends don't read romances. For one reason or another, they simply...don't read romances. Period. Either they're worried about being judged by the racy covers, or they think all that romance stuff is "a fairy tale," or they prefer to read exclusively about serial killers, or they've tried one (just one!) romance--possibly a decade ago, or more--and have decided the whole genre just isn't for them.

That's okay with me. I mean, there are occasionally awkward moments between us, I'll admit that. Because I'm passionate about reading and writing romances! I think they're awesome. I like to celebrate the power of love, the thrill of attraction, and all the wonderful differences between men and women. At the same time, I'm a live-and-let-live kind of person. I don't think it's up to me to try to "convert" anyone to my favorite genre. I wouldn't like it if someone tried to force me to take up lawn bowling or sushi eating or PlayStation playing (it would be futile; I'm a Nintendo Wii gal). Our dissimilarities make us uniquely interesting, and the world would be a boring place if everyone liked the same things.

That said, two friends recently read copies of my books--contemporary romantic comedies that I wrote a few years ago. Afterward, the first friend seemed a little concerned. "I laughed! Is it okay that I laughed when I read your book?" Now, I get this reaction occasionally, and it puzzles me. There are tons of incredibly enjoyable funny books out there. Are people really missing them? Do they not realize that, with the right book in hand, reading can be hilarious? (Not just romances either--see P.G. Wodehouse, Terry Pratchett, or David Sedaris for examples.) The second friend also laughed...but then said, "And it was time well spent, reading your
book, just because I laughed so much."

You know what? That's the way I feel about reading romances. It *is* time well spent. After I've read a good book, the world feels like a better place. My faith in the positive qualities of human nature is reaffirmed. And if I'm lucky...I've done a little laughing too.

What about you? Are you the only romance reader among nonromance reading family and friends? Do you like to laugh when you're reading, or do you only crack a smile when Borat is involved? Let's chat!Lisa Plumley

Susanna Carr | Readers and Writers Getting Together

Last weekend I went to the Reader & Writer Get Together Lori Foster and Dianne Castell host every year in Cincinnati, Ohio. To read more about this event, visit my blog.

This was my first time visiting the event and I think any die-hard romance reader should attend. Why? Here are five reasons:

1. It's great to meet the romance readers you only talk to online.
   
2. It's a rare opportunity to spend hours chatting about books with readers who love romance as much as you do.
   
3. Chances are you will have more in common with these readers than favorite books and authors.
   
4. It's fun to meet your favorite authors in a casual environment. (For some reason it's not that nerve-wracking when everyone is wearing jeans and T-shirts!)
   
5. Every woman should set aside at least one weekend that is just for her. You spend every other weekend for family, work and chores. A weekend at the Get Together is relaxing and giving you the "me time" you deserve!

Susanna Carr
www.susannacarr.com/

Cherie Feather | The Freedom of Erotica

I’ve been reading romance novels for over twenty years and writing them for over ten years. They are a significant part of my life. I’ve watched trends come and go, and I’ve been part of some of those trends.

But one thing remains constant: The heroes and heroines fall in fall. Romance novels are about romance.

The Art of Desire is an erotic romance. It’s a wildly passionate book where the characters fall crazy in love while having crazy, heart-thrilling sex.

I was accurately quoted in Candy’s June Inside Books column (thanks, Candy!) about how my books used to get censored, and I’d like to expound on that quote, posting it in its entirety.

In the old days, I used to get censored by my editors because my love scenes were too graphic, so when the erotica subgenre exploded on the scene, it seemed inevitable that I become part of it. Even my readers kept asking, “When are you going to write an erotica?”

So I did it! The Art of Desire is my first really, really sexy book. No censorship. No holds barred. But in spite of the sensuality, I wanted it to be highly romantic and deeply emotional, too. I created a contemporary story with a historical twist, with a hundred-year-old journal as an integral part of the plot. The historical portions gave me the opportunity to write a classic romance with tragic elements. The contemporary portions gave me the chance to spread my naughty wings and write in my most erotic voice.

The result has been rewarded. So far, The Art of Desire has garnered exceptional reviews, including a Top Pick from Romantic Times. I couldn’t be more thrilled.

While I was writing The Art of Desire, I debated if I should keep my name (Sheri WhiteFeather) or change it. Yes, lots of my readers wanted me to pen an erotica, but what about the rest of them? Would they prefer that I keep my identities separate, so they would know what to expect? Would writing naughty books under my Harlequin name confuse them?

I decided to become Cherie Feather, which flowed naturally from Sheri WhiteFeather. I let readers know that Cherie is Sheri, but that my Cheri’s books are much, much, edgier.

If you’re curious about The Art of Desire, here’s the back cover blurb:

Museum director Mandy Cooper has always been obsessed with nineteenth-century artist Catherine Burke—and the artist’s erotically charged relationship with Atacar, her enthralling American Indian lover. But Mandy’s link to the legendary couple runs deeper than she knows. She’s having a heated affair herself—with Jared Cabrillo, Atacar’s perilously handsome great-great nephew. And the consuming passion Atacar once used to seduce Catherine is now being engaged by Jared. He knows precisely what it takes to move a woman…

He’s in possession of Catherine’s wildly explicit journal. He knows every intimate detail of what she wanted and needed. But he also knows how desperately Catherine had loved Atacar and how dangerously he’d loved her. The journal is timeless and tragic, and the secrets contained within its pages can bring Mandy and Jared together, or just as surely destroy them both—desire by shocking desire.

If that piqued your interest, watch the book trailer.



If you’d like to read an excerpt, click here.

In July, I have a WhiteFeather release called Killer Passion. It’s part of a Silhouette Romantic Suspense miniseries called Seduction Summer with authors Nina Bruhns and Cindy Dees. Nina, Cindy and I were asked to write hot, suspenseful stories, and we had a blast creating romances set in Fiji with a serial killer stalking lovers on the beach.

Enter my ONE DAY ONLY blog contest for a chance to win One of SIX books I am giving away today.

For more contests, read my blog and see pictures of my gorgeous grown kids, visits my websites at www.cheriefeather.com/ and www.sheriwhitefeather.com/

Hugs and Happy Reading!

Cherie Feather (aka Sheri WhiteFeather)

Isabel Sharpe | My Two Hats

During a recent newspaper interview, the reporter made an observation that completely surprised me: “Your romance books are about finding men while your women’s fiction novels are about getting away from them.” Huh? I started to write women’s fiction because I had stories to tell that didn’t fit the romance mold, but I’d never thought about it in that light.

Romance novels portray a beautiful fantasy—the forever joining of two souls meant to be together. Since I’m a divorcée it’s pretty obvious that fantasy didn’t work out for me. (And given my bad date stories it might never. Tip for men—during that first-impression conversation, leave out mentioning throwing up your dinner, ripping your underwear with too-long toenails or seeing your 85-year-old father’s naked buttocks.)

That said, I don’t consider my women’s fiction to be a celebration of ditching men, but a celebration of women taking charge of their lives, of stepping off the martyr train and striking out for a destination of their choosing. I could have written about women quitting bad jobs or leaving dull towns but relationships are more important to women and involve more of their identities, thereby giving me the chance to tell a deeper story.

My Harlequin Blaze, INDULGE ME (out this month), is a romantic romp in which my heroine Darcy Wolf pursues wild times and total freedom but finds Tyler Houston instead. July brings my next women’s fiction book, AS GOOD AS IT GOT (Avon/HarperCollins), a dark comedy about three very different characters who meet at a coastal Maine retreat for “suddenly single” women. You can check out excerpts of INDULGE ME and my February 2007 women’s fiction book, WOMEN ON THE EDGE OF A NERVOUS BREAKTHROUGH at my website, http://www.isabelsharpe.com/. Happy reading!


Isabel

Gail Barrett | Advantage, Women

When the man sitting in the front row raised his hand, I was curious about what he would ask. There weren’t many men in the audience, mostly women who’d come into the bookstore to hear four local romance authors discuss their craft. And this fellow had arrived early. He’d parked himself belligerently in the front row, right in the middle, as if daring us to ignore him. And he’d been eyeing us ever since -- rubbing his jaw, biding his time -- like a predator waiting to strike.

And strike he did. Why did women read romance novels, he demanded. Was it because we were frustrated? Were we trying to escape reality? Was there something wrong with our (sex) lives?

I thought we did an admirable job of answering him. No one got excited. No one lost her temper. We took his questions seriously, answered rationally, compared reading novels to other forms of entertainment, including sports. We talked about fiction in general, romance novels in particular, told him why love stories touch our lives.

Was he convinced? Doubtful, although he stayed until the end and bought a book. Who knows if he actually read it, though. Maybe he did -- and maybe he loved it. Maybe he’s now devouring romance novels and has become our biggest fan.

And maybe he only read the sex scenes. But at least we tried. So the advantage this round goes to the women. Now if we could only win the game...

Gail Barrett

http://www.gailbarrett.com/



Coming next from Silhouette Romantic Suspense:

The Crusaders: Chasing legends, capturing hearts

HEART OF A THIEF - Book One of The Crusaders, May 2008

TO PROTECT A PRINCESS - Book Two, November 2008

LOVE IN 60 SECONDS (SRS CONTINUITY) - Spring 2009

Book Club Rewind - Susan Wiggs

Susan Wiggs was the Plano (Texas) book club's author for our April get together. I was really looking forward to this month's call because I had just read and enjoyed Susan's latest book, Snowfall at Willow Lake. This is the fourth book in The Lakeshore Chronicles series, but don't fear. Those of us who had read Snowfall at Willow Lake and not the other Lakeshore Chronicles did NOT feel like we had just landed in the middle of the series. We didn't feel like we were missing any information nor were we trapped in a series summary for the first few chapters. The book truly stands alone...That's not to say I don't want more!

But back to book club.

Susan was super excited to be part of our book club. She had recently been to visit her publisher and been treated to the full Queen for day routine in Toronto and had not had a chance to rave about it to anyone. By Queen for a day routine, we're talking about large flower bouquets, limo ride, 1st class seat during flight, 5 star meal out with publisher, etc. Of interest to Susan's fans, the publisher expressed interest in a Lakeshore Chronicles Christmas story as well as a cookbook. They also talked about wanting hardcovers, but worry not readers, Susan said there were no plans at this time to have future Lakeshore Chronicles' books come out as hardcover. Her next book, however, called Just Breathe is planned to be released this September as a hardcover. While not part of the Lakeshore Chronicles, the main characters apparently did come and stay at the inn in Dockside (which she also mentioned was the book that she got the least amount of reader feedback on).

Regarding Just Breathe, Susan is asking that when the reprint of her historical The Charm School (complete with new cover art) is released, that you send Susan an email telling her what you think about the excerpt for Just Breathe included at the end of The Charm School.

Speaking of historicals, Susan is planning to do another historical, but it likely will not be one of the hardcovers that I mentioned earlier.

Susan is currently writing Fireside, the next in The Lakeshore Chronicles and featuring Noah's friend Bo from Snowfall at Willow Lake. We also heard that there will be at least another story after Fireside BEFORE Susan writes Daisy's story. She gets a lot of reader comments about Daisy what with her being an unwed teenage mother, but what can I say she was one of my favorite characters in the book!

Odd trivia:
The names of Sophie & Noah's adopted children came from names in SPAM emails. You know those banking or money transfer scams I'm talking about. She just "...can't let those go to waste."

Kathryn Caskie | Romantic Frame of Mine

Sometimes it's hard to get into a romantic frame of mind when its time to sit down and write, even when a deadline looms. For instance today. Two days ago, the sewer line from my 200 year old house to the street suddenly burst sending raw sewage into the air and across the yard. Yeah, how romantic is that? And then I see the outrageous bill, for digging up my entire yard to replace piping--none of which it seems is covered by insurance. There is no working plumbing in the house last night or today, the dogs had to be shuttled off to a kennel and the kids to a neighbor's house. So I have a little time alone--except for all of the plumbers with backhoes, shovels and long lengths of pipe--and it's time to write a love scene.

So how do I do it? How does an author write a rich, emotional scene when the world is not cooperating? I know of a fabulous New York Times bestselling romance author who pours herself a glass of white wine and then sits down to write three love scenes all in one sitting. I know another who watches sexy movies. I know another who calls her husband and asks him to come home for an early lunch. All very...inspiring.

Me? I read. It doesn't have to be steamy stories, or even Regency-set. I just need to read. Reading transports me like nothing else. Books can whisk you away to another time and place...where toilet paper isn't dangling from a limb and one plumber isn't daring the other to eat the five-inch worm he just dug up. Today I just happen to pick up The Seduction of an Unknown Lady by Samantha James. Within the span of a single page I was in her lushly detailed world, not my own. I was her heroine for an hour or so.

Then I opened the chapter I had been writing the day before. I read it aloud (I have this quirky way of launching myself into the scene--I read my pages in a British accent, but its not the Queen's proper British--it's more Monty Pythonesque. It embarrasses my kids, which is, I suppose, part of the fun of doing it. But it works!) Then, I close my eyes and watch the scene unfold in my mind. The characters come to life and I listen. And I write. The world outside my office has dissolved and Regency London has taken its place.

If ever there was a means for time travel, it would be reading. It takes us away and allows us to experience another reality for a while. Let's us forget our own troubles, replacing them with worries about choosing a gown for a ball--and whether the sexy hero is going to kiss you...um...I mean the heroine that night.

Books are pretty powerful things. If they were a drug, they'd be illegal. But they're not. They're only $6.99 or so. How great is that?

Kathryn Caskie's new book, How to Propose to a Prince, is on the shelves now! Stop by her web site for excerpts, fun and contests. www.kathryncaskie.com/

Michelle Monkou | Sauntering Down Memory Lane

A friend recently celebrated her wedding on the beach of Cayman Islands. The bright blue sky, turquoise water, and white sandy beach provided a romantic setting for the couple in love. The photos from her wedding remind me of my April release – No One But You – that beautifully highlights a bride standing on a beach ready and waiting for her perfect match.

No One But You, Harlequin Kimani Romance, introduces the first in the Ladies of Distinction series about sorority sisters who pledged together and now face life after university. Basically after college, Jackson Thomas chose his family business over Sarafina Lovell. Now Jackson is back, and Sara plans to give him one sultry goodbye kiss to prove she’s moved on. His sizzling kiss awakens memories of passion too hot to ignore.…

I am happy to have Essence Bestseller Francis Ray share her thoughts about my book: No One But You . . . is romance at its best - fun, sexy, memorable.

Although I write romances, I am an avid romance reader. From 13 or 14 years old, I read romances that had lush settings in Australia, Argentina, English countryside, and so on. Yes, I could have easily enjoyed reading my book in a quiet corner, but I derived great pleasure in discussing the book.

In high school, way before there was such a thing as bookclubs, my friends and I read the book and then conducted major discussions. At first, it was only my friend and me. Then as others heard about our lively conversation, they wanted to join. We didn’t have rules. However, if a person wasn’t an avid reader and, heaven forbid, not an avid romance reader, then she wouldn’t be a good fit with the group. We read almost a book a day and probably two or three books over a weekend. Granted we didn’t have video games and the multitude of TV channels to tempt us.

This connection between romance books and friends has not diminished over time. Being a member of Romance Writers of America places a person in the middle of active, supportive writers, but more importantly readers, of romance. I’m convinced that a writer cannot be a good writer if she does not read.

I won’t pretend that our discussions were always intellectual and thought provoking. Sometimes it simply was sharing common appreciation like when we talked about heroes -- their motivations and conflicts -- never gets dull. And yes, a full discourse about which celebrities match the hero would make the discussion complete. At 15 years old, sharing page numbers of fabulous bodies described in Johanna Lindsey’s books reduced us to a group of giggling girls. Now several decades later, I can still enjoy a few minutes of frivolity with my girlfriends over a romantic, sensual, handsome hero.

I am grateful for the ties between romance books and friendships. Each served to strengthen the enjoyment of the other. I look forward to continuing my deep relish of the latest romance books and the new friends that will come my way.

Introduce a friend to a romance book.

Michelle Monkou
http://www.michellemonkou.com/

Sherry Thomas | Am I a paranormal reader? Sure I am!

A couple of weeks ago, I called a local romance-friendly bookseller to invite her to have lunch with the published authors of my RWA chapter. And she invited me, in return, to attend the monthly paranormal readers’ meeting, which would take place that evening at her store.

The kids were at Grandma’s for spring break. And though I did not read heavily in the paranormal genre, I thought it was a good opportunity to get out of the house and meet the bookseller in person.

Did I mention that I don’t read heavily in the paranormal genre? I was surprised when I got to the meeting to realize how many I have read. There was another author from my local chapter at the meeting. Other than the two of us, none of the other readers present had yet to try J. R. Ward. We practically shoved the Black Dagger Brotherhood books into their hands.

During the course of the evening we’d recommended Shana Abe, Nalini Singh, Lara Adrian, Meljean Brook and Marjorie M. Liu, among others. And right after I left the meeting, I smacked myself on the forehead. How could I have forgotten Kelley Armstrong?

It was, believe it or not, my first time interaction with other romance readers simply as a fellow romance reader. I joined RWA early on in my journey to publication, and over the years, all the other romance readers in my acquaintance have also been writers. It was different and great fun to discuss books—and not just romance, but urban fantasy, mysteries and general fiction—purely from the standpoint of enjoyability.

By the end of the meeting, I had in hand Jim Butcher’s name written down as an author to try, two new releases that I’d bought at a special 25% discount for attendees of the paranormal readers’ meeting, and the bookseller’s enthusiastic assurance to increase the store’s order for my debut book (Private Arrangements, which hit shelves today).

I will most definitely be joining this readers group again in the very near future.

—Sherry Thomas
writersherrythomas.com/

Diana Holquist | What Makes You Mad?

Some writers start their books with a character they love. Others start with plot. Then there are the folks who look to the market to see what’s hot: a vampire lesbian spy thriller shape-shifter historical—count me in!

And then there’s me.

Me, I get mad.

Here’s something that made me mad: reading a twenty-something’s blog about her search for the “perfect” husband. He had to be tall, rich, successful, etc. I wanted to smack that woman. I wanted a mysterious Gypsy psychic to swoop in and rock her world by telling her that her one soul mate on this earth was a penniless single father, down on his luck.

Hey, wait…that would make a good book. (My first book, Make Me a Match.)

But I was still mad. Which was good, because I had another book due.

This time, I was mad about reading my 7,436th kick-ass heroine romance novel. Enough already with the spy/killer/half-beast/vamp woman who does it all in heels. Not that I don’t love those books; but I needed a change. I wanted to read about a heroine like me, an overweight mother of two…

...um. Okay, so I didn’t want to read that. But what about a shy heroine who kicks ass in her own quiet, low-heeled way? So I wrote my next book, Sexiest Man Alive; the shyest woman alive finds out her soul mate is People magazine’s Sexiest Man Alive.

What makes you mad? Hey, you never know, maybe some author here will read your idea here and write it. Maybe it’ll even be me, since I’ve got another book due soon...

Diana Holquist

http://www.dianaholquist.com/

Joanne Rock | Hunger for Historicals

It’s a good time for historicals. Or at least, it should be. I’ve seen more historical shows and movies in the last few years than at any time in the last few decades. The Tudors. Rome. Cate Blanchett’s turns as Elizabeth. Not one, but two versions of Beowulf. It’s a historical writer’s dream. But what about for a fan of historical stories? Are we seeing the trend carried out in our books? Certainly I see the trend in more mainstream-y fiction. The fabulous success of Philippa Gregory’s books tells me interest is there for readers. But I’m not sure the new popularity has fully touched the ranks of romance given the percentage of new historical romances available.

My first clue was that some of historical romance’s brightest stars have gone on to write contemporary books. Lisa Kleypas in recent years. Before that, readers witnessed a rash of historical author defections—Elizabeth Lowell, Iris Johansen, Julie Garwood, Pamela Morsi. Other authors, like Amanda Quick, maintained a larger presence on the contemporary side while still writing historical books. I miss their historical offerings, don’t you?

Likewise, when Pirates of the Caribbean exploded in popularity, I thought for sure we’d see some renewed interest in pirate books. A diehard fan of Miranda Jarrett’s Sparhawk series, I couldn’t wait for this to happen. But how many pirate books have we seen in the last decade? Not nearly enough. Remember Susan Wiggs’ Charm School? I could read many, many more books like this.

Of course, it’s hardly all bad news for historical romances. Authors like Madeline Hunter have tapped into the wealth of readers hungry for historical books. And a few years ago, Harlequin Historicals debated discontinuing the long-running series and then decided against the move after readers and booksellers proclaimed their appreciation for the line. Since then, I’ve seen Harlequin Historicals become more open to a wider variety of time periods, and I think that’s a good sign.

What about you? Are there enough historicals in stores to suit your reading appetite? Or do you wish there were more? If so, what time periods do you enjoy and would you like to see an expansion into others?

Finally, I’d love to hear what you think of the historical movies and series in our media. Do you adore The Tudors as much as me? Enter my One Day Only blog contest, I'm giving away signed copies of A Knight Most Wicked to two lucky winners.

Joanne Rock

http://joannerock.com/

http://myspace.com/joanne_rock

Cynthia Eden | Why write romance?

Have you ever gotten this question before? Have you been asked just why you decided to write in the romance genre? There are so many different areas out there…why romance?

Well, for me, the answer is simple: I love romance.

I’ve been addicted to romance novels since I read my first story almost twenty years ago. (I was twelve, for anyone curious about the math!)

I love romances because I like to escape from the real world—I like to sink myself into a story that I know will give me thrills…and a happy ending.

I love romances because the romance genre—it’s huge! I can read historicals, futuristics, romantic suspenses, or contemporaries. With romance, cross-over is welcome.

My upcoming Kensington Brava release, HOTTER AFTER MIDNIGHT, is probably best described as a paranormal romantic suspense. My heroine, Dr. Emily Drake, is a psychologist who only treats paranormal patients. She gets pulled into a murder investigation as a profiler—and teamed up with sexy wolf shifter, Detective Colin Gyth. I loved being able to add darker elements to this tale. Romance, a serial killer, wolf shifters and psychics—lucky for me, the romance genre is so broad and so wonderfully accepting.

I feel like writers have been pushing the boundaries of romance for years and that push has allowed our genre to just grow stronger.

But what about you? Why do you write (or read) romance?

(And a big thank you to Fresh Fiction for having me here today! I’m thrilled to be guest blogging!)

Cynthia Eden

www.cynthiaeden.com/

HOTTER AFTER MIDNIGHT—April 29, 2008, Kensington Brava

“Wicked Ways” in WHEN HE WAS BAD—May 27, 2008, Kensington Brava

Believe in monsters. They believe in you.

Rachelle Chase | A Life Full of Hot Men, Wild Sex, and Romance-Drenched Days

Since I write erotic romance, the question I’m asked most often is “Do you write about real-life experiences?” And, if it’s a guy doing the asking, this question is often followed by “If you need any help with research...” then, a wink and a sly smile. Initially, I found these questions annoying, thinking them unfair. I mean, would these same people go up to my literary hero, Dean Koontz, and ask him if he was really a schizophrenic psychotic with paranormal endencies? And if they really thought so, I doubt they’d offer to assist him with research. So why, then, do people assume that just because I write about sex, I live a life overflowing with it?

I think it’s because sex is such a personal experience. And since it’s nearly impossible to write about it convincingly without having experienced it, it’s natural for people to assume that erotic romance authors live the life we write about. And since the majority of folks who read erotic romance have most likely had sex, they can tell in a heartbeat if an author is writing nonsense. But, while they’ve had sex, odds are, they’ve never knowingly met a schizophrenic psychotic with paranormal tendencies. So, having no basis for comparison, they give Mr. Koontz the
benefit of the doubt, assuming that he’s merely a master storyteller (which he is!).

So, I no longer consider these assumptions unfair. For if, after reading my work, they refuse to believe that I didn’t really experience what I wrote about, isn’t that the highest form of flattery? Now, let me ask you – have you ever read a book or a scene that was so real you thought the author must’ve experienced it? What was it?

P.S. I just realized that though I implied an answer, I didn’t really answer the question. So, nope, I don’t write about real life, but real life oftentimes triggers what I write about. For example, I host a live talk show called "Chatting with Chase" and I’ve been interviewed on the radio, both of which prompted Dr. Love’s talk show in SIN CLUB. Additionally, I was standing outside of a club one night and a guy drove by and shouted out his phone number. I certainly didn’t call him, but jaded, world-weary, Sharice did in SIN CLUB – with interesting results. And The Dirty Minnie, Sharice’s drink, was created for me by a bartender in Atlanta when I was looking for Derek (http://www.findingderek.com/), the hero of my first book, SEX LOUNGE.

Rachelle Chase

Amanda McIntyre | Perceptions

As I step ever so lightly toward another birthday this week, the one that comes "after" the milestone one we all remember our parents getting to. I am reminded again of how very different perceptions of youth, not to mention birthdays can be.

I honestly don’t think about growing older. I don’t think I would trade all that I have learned, for the chance to go back and relive it. Besides, I’ve far too many adventures ahead of me yet to want to return to the blossom of my youth.

Nevertheless, to each his/her own; though we joke about it, I have a dear friend (who looks much younger than I look, but is, only by a month and killer genes, I’m guessing) who has made me swear I must never allow her to be placed in a nursing home. She claims *GASP-those are for old people. She isn’t going to get old. Given that, I should never have to worry seeing her in a home for the aged, since she never plans to be old. Her humor and attitude though, is what I admire and emulate. We see ourselves as an aging Thelma and Louise, making our spur of the moment road trips, creating havoc wherever we go, and enjoying the ride. (Our husbands, btw, just shake their heads and offer wry smiles.)

Old to me is more of a 'state of mind', than candles on a cake, (which btw, I prefer not to have anymore after the last one where the fire department accidentally showed up at my door. Hysterical, not.)

It’s less about how others see my age and more how I see myself. The gifts that are unique to me, the experiences that have given me every laugh line (or every gray hair.)

And no, btw, I’m not yet ready for silvery doos just yet. Look at George Clooney, Richard Gere, or how about Sean Connery and Harrison Ford? These guys make growing old a pleasure!

Perceptions are an integral part of the reason I chose to write DIARY OF COZETTE, (HQ-SPICE 10/08) a story about a young English girl, orphaned by poverty and caught in the dark side of Victorian England. To survive, she must face and deal with the prejudices and perceptions of a very constricted society with a great many double standards. In young womanhood, fate takes her hand and walks her across the line into the lives of the affluent of London. Yet, even here, she encounters the stilted perceptions and prejudices on all levels of the household. As the year’s progress and her experiences serve to give her greater insight, she soon realizes that no matter what your social rank, people will always believe what they want about you, but what is most important, is how you feel about yourself.

And me? I plan to have a wonderful birthday, surrounded by my family and the many memories of experiences, places and people that have shaped me into the person I am, with one open as I jostle up the next hill of this great roller coaster ride called life!

Visit Amanda and sign up for her newsletter at http://www.amandamcintyre.net/ or www.myspace.com/amandamcintyre For fun, and a chance to win great prizes, come name our rakish Lord at Lust in Time-my new blog launched this week with buddies Kristina Cook and Charlotte Featherstone. http://www.lustintime.blogspot.com/

Hope Tarr | Keeping it in the family-or at least together: Writing the romance series

To paraphrase the late great John Lennon, life is what happens while you’re making other plans.

To directly quote my mother—and mothers everywhere—"Don’t do as I do. Do as I say."

Both sage snippets segue albeit circuitously into my blog topic—how to write connected romance novels, or rather how not to write them, or at least how to recover from (cough, hiccup) going about it all wrong.

My Men of Roxbury House trilogy—VANQUISHED, ENSLAVED, and now UNTAMED—is my first shot at writing connected books. Like anyone’s first anything, in the aftermath, there are lessons learned, battle scars to be shown off—and FYI, I’m not just in it for beads. ;)

Seriously, I don’t write like grownups do. Never have and likely never will. For starters, I don’t write sequentially, linearly, or well, in any reasonable, replicable fashion. You’ll never catch me at a writers’ conference touting my “process,” flashing charts and graphs, or God forbid, instructing others on how to write like me. If anything, I’m the textbook case for what not to do. I do it all wrong—and yet for me, it works.

I write scenes out of order, the characters voicing firing off like canon shot in my head. I’m not a plotter (duh) but I’m not a "pantser," either. I start out with a synopsis, though fat lot of good it does me. I’m what you call a "puzzler," which I’m coming to think amounts to starting down that path paved with good intentions that leads to You Know Where.

In the case of my trilogy books, I thumbed my nose at any notion of creating character sketches, a timeline, a “bible” of people, places, dates, you name it. My muse must have free rein and besides that, all that set-up "stuff" felt like…well, like a lot of work.

Creative freedom tasted sweet for VANQUISHED and ENSLAVED. Then I got to UNTAMED. My challenge (AKA “big problem”) was that Kate and Rourke, my UNTAMED heroine and hero, had already met in ENSLAVED. To keep the sexual tension at a slow sizzle building to burning point, I had to backtrack and start out UNTAMED *prior to* where ENSLAVED left off, all the while keeping clear in my head on where the other secondary characters were at each stage e.g., were Callie and Hadrian (VANQUISHED) married yet and just where were Daisy and Gavin (ENSLAVED) with opening that refurbished theater in the East End?

Memo to whomever manufactures those Post-It notes, please let me know where I can buy stock. Ditto for Starbucks. As to the guy who delivers my carry-out sushi/sashimi, the one whose twins are now contemplating medical school, no need to thank me. I’m always happy to support higher education.

There’s no anchor in a free fall. That said, once you take that leap of faith, there are some pretty amazing surprises that crop up amidst the brambles and screes scraping your knees. In my case, my circuitous “process” has led me to think about adding a fourth book to my so-called trilogy. It seems Rourke’s sexy friend, Ralph, former con artist turned valet is angling for a book of his own. For sure, Kate’s pretty but prickly younger sister, Bea, will be pretty disappointed if he doesn’t get it. I think I will be, too.

What are your experiences of detouring off the so-called beaten path in fiction or in real life? Ever thumb your nose at conventional wisdom—and found yourself thanking the Universe that you did?

Hope’s Unconventional Wisdom:

1. To paraphrase Louis Carroll, begin at the beginning.
   
   
2. If you ignore #1, and of course you will, then at least keep a damned log book, so you can figure out where you went…shall we say, awry.



3. Drink coffee. I recommend a latte with an extra espresso shot—all that shaking keeps you on your toes, or at least awake.



4. To combat being wired from all that caffeine, drink red wine, good red wine, or substitute your mood altering beverage of choice.



5. Keep all carry-out menus within easy reach. Unlike your "work" files, and the character log that in all likelihood doesn’t actually exist, the menus should be kept in meticulous order, preferably alphabetized.



6. Drink another glass of red wine—repeat as needed.

Hope Tarr routinely thumbs her nose at Conventional Wisdom and, hair pulling and teeth gnashing aside, generally finds herself glad she did. To enter her more than monthly contest, and have a shot at winning the latest releases from romance buds Julia Quinn, Eloisa James, and Kathryn Caskie, visit Hope online at www.hopetarr.com/.

Hope Tarr

Stephanie Bond | Why Romance and Mystery Make Great Bedfellows

I just finished writing the third book in my Body Movers sexy mystery series (Three Men and a Body, due out August 2008) in which the main character, Carlotta Wren, works for Neiman Marcus by day and helps her brother move bodies from crime scenes by night. Carlotta’s life is further complicated by the three men in her life: her first love, a cop who has reopened the case of her fugitive father, and her brother’s body-moving boss. For me, romance and mystery are a natural fit, because one helps to foster the other in the story. The suspense of a mystery is further heightened when the players are emotionally involved. Likewise, the romance between characters is heightened by the adrenaline pumping from the suspense scenes. Nothing gets the heart racing like danger!

In writerspeak, mystery and romance make for a great intermingling of external and internal conflict. The mystery is the external conflict of the story, but if, for example, two characters are on opposite sides of solving the mystery, it makes their internal (personal) conflict more real, and more complicated. This is why I love combining the elements of mystery and romance—they are better together than on their own. (An example of the whole being greater than the sum of its parts.) And it’s why I think we’ll see more and more “hybrid” books on the market in the future that contain two or more elements of separate genres—because readers appreciate the blending of both worlds. When I sold the Body Movers series to Mira, I suggested that instead of making the reader guess what kind of story it is, that we simply tell the reader what to expect, which is why each cover plainly says, “A Sexy Mystery.” In other words, it lets the readers know that there will be dead bodies, and there will be naked bodies.

(Am I the only person perplexed by the phrase “A novel” on the front of books? What the heck does that mean anyway? If it’s fiction, of course it’s a novel!)

The only downside of blended genre books? Booksellers aren’t quite sure where to shelve them! In mystery? In romance? Both places? In some chains my Body Movers series is shelved in romance because that’s my background and where readers will most likely recognize my name; in other chains the series is shelved in the mystery section, and in others, general fiction, which doesn’t exactly help the reader find what they’re looking for. But I’m confident that bookstores will someday have blended genre sections and that more publishers will begin to tell the reader what to expect, either by spine designation or on the cover itself. Until then, if you don’t find what you’re looking for in one section of the bookstore, don’t be afraid to ask a bookseller for help. And expect more genres to be jumping into bed with each other!

Stephanie Bond

Sabrina Jeffries | Rakes Are Just Hell on a Writer

I don’t write many rakehell heroes. The hero of my upcoming book, Let Sleeping Rogues Lie, is really only my third. And why is that, you may ask?

It’s simple, really. I like my heroes to have compelling reasons for what they do, and I tend to think of rakehells as skirt-chasers who just want to have fun. A guy like that is hard to reform, and if he doesn’t reform, well, I worry that he’ll go on chasing skirts after the wedding. That would certainly put a damper on the whole happily ever after thing.

Still, I’ve managed to create a few by digging deeper. For Gavin Byrne in One Night with a Prince, I gave him a fear of rejection that made him skittish of anything but the most basic of physical relationships. Jordan, the Earl of Blackmore from Forbidden Lord, saw himself as unable to love. And my latest hero Anthony Dalton …

Well, I’ll leave that to you to find out. But I must admit that I have a soft spot for Anthony. His chickens have come home to roost, and they’re laying eggs all over his comfortable rakehell life. He handles it pretty poorly at first, which is where my heroine comes in. She shows him it can be fun to be responsible, respectable, and, most of all, monogamous.

Of course, that doesn’t keep them from finding enjoyment in the bedroom. My characters always do. But then, that’s what we like about those rakehells, isn’t it? That they reform while still holding on to the fun aspects of their character?

Or maybe I’m wrong. Maybe you have another reason entirely for liking rakehell books. Maybe you don’t like them at all.

Here’s your chance to voice your opinion. Do you like those rakehells in romance? If you do, then why? If not, then why not? And what would a rakehell have to do for you to decide that he’s irredeemable?

-Sabrina Jeffries, author of Let Sleeping Rogues Lie

http://www.sabrinajeffries.com/

T. Sue VerSteeg | Ah, love...

This one tiny word encompasses all from which romance novels are made. It doesn’t matter what genre, category or heat level. It all comes down to those four little letters. Now, the word itself may be small, but the concept is huge. The tiny flicker eventually turning into an all-consuming flame--now that is love…or at the very least, lust.

As a romance writer, I have to admit that this fire is what sucked me into writing the genre. I love…love. The sex is great, but it is so much more than hopping in the sack. The thrill of the chase, the spark of the first kiss, the flame of the passion, and the sigh of the happily-ever-after ending make it the only category for me to read and write.

There are many people who say romance is nothing but predictable, just because they end the same. I have one word for them: Duh! Mysteries end with a resolution to the mystery and horror stories are going to have gruesome scenes, yet for some reason, they generally aren’t lumped into one bunch and pooh-poohed as a whole. Writing a book is all about the presentation and figuring out how to flow your words from point A to point B with finesse, regardless of genre. If a writer does it well, it sticks with the reader. Period. For me, if a writer does it well and their characters fall in love, I’m a fan forever.

Don’t be afraid to flaunt the fact that you are a romance fanatic, especially with today’s romance. There truly is something out there for everyone.

I’d like to thank Fresh Fiction for inviting me to blog today. I never pass up a chance to ramble on about my love of writing and romance. Please feel free to contact me with any questions or comments at sue@tsueversteeg.com I’d love to hear from you. You can also visit my website at www.tsueversteeg.com/. My latest release, Click!, is available in e-book format from my site. All proceeds from sales are being donated to help the wonderful folks at Romance Divas. This is a writing site dedicated to those whose passion in writing is aimed at the romance world. Stop by and say hello. www.romancedivas.com/.

T. Sue VerSteeg

Carly Phillips | What is Romance?

It’s Valentine’s Day so of course the subject of the day is Romance. What is romance? Is it the perfect gift? The bouquet of flowers? The huge heart shaped box of candy? Or is it the little blue velvet (or whatever) color jewelry box from your favorite store? Seriously sappy cards? Or humorous fun ones?

Before I answer or at least give my opinion, I admit to loving all of these things. I’ve been married almost 19 years and my heart still does a little leap when the florist comes. Honestly, my husband isn’t a “true romantic” and that’s okay. As long as there’s a way he remembers important dates, I’m happy.

I think too much emphasis is placed on Valentine’s Day and even birthdays etc. A lot of men just aren’t wired to be romantic. Even if you’ve tried to retrain them, they just don’t think that way. Although how they can miss the T.V. commercials and radio ads is beyond me. Still, if they value you and have their own way of showing it, that should be enough.

For me, I don’t need the big fancy gift or the flowers (although it’s nice when I get them.) We’re usually leaving for a family vacation right after Valentine’s Day which makes flowers that will die while I’m gone a waste of money. But it’s enough for him to say “I would have gotten you flowers but we’re leaving the next day.” That tells me he remembered.

That said, I have also learned to tell him what I want for Valentine’s Day, birthdays and the like, and then to go out and buy it. He does the same. That way we each get what we like, no one is disappointed or upset with the other for forgetting. And we do get each other cards …

To answer my original question, what is romance? It’s the little things all year round that mean the most. But I wouldn’t return anything inside a little velvet box, ::hint:: ::hint::

HAPPY VALENTINE’S DAY! Carly Phillips

Visit me at: www.carlyphillips.com/ and www.plotmonkeys.com/ (blog)

JoAnn Ross | Why I Hate Valentine's Day

I’ll admit it. I’ve always hated Valentine’s Day. The pressure began back in first grade, when I stayed awake all night, worrying that I’d be the only kid who didn’t receive a card at the class party. The entire holiday could, in my opinion, be renamed “Unimaginative Consumer-oriented, Entirely Arbitrary and Manipulative, Shallow Interpretation of Romance Created by the Greeting Card, Florist, and Candy Industries to make you feel miserable Day.”

Now, I believe in romance. I couldn’t have sustained a career for twenty-five years writing romance novels if I wasn’t a sucker for happily-ever-afters. But there’s so much pressure to have the most romantic night of the year that it’s almost always bound to fail.

True romance, in my opinion, comes from those little unplanned gestures that remind you why you fell in love with the guy in the first place. But I do have one evening that will forever shimmer in my mind as a perfect Technicolor romantic experience.

Back in 2001, nine days after 9/11, my sweetie and I traveled to Italy for a long-planned vacation. Really, really long-planned. When he'd proposed to me, he promised that some day he'd take me to Rome. Which he knew was my dream city. (I think I'd watched Audrey Hepburn's Roman Holiday a few too many times!)

The problem was, he was in graduate school and we only had enough money for a weekend honeymoon at a nearby lake. But the dream of going to Rome persisted through two marriages -- yes, I did marry him twice -- and although the companies he ended up working for sent us to many wonderful foreign places, Italy never turned out to be on the itinerary. 

So, although many of our friends and even our son advised against us taking the trip at that time, we weren’t going to allow terrorists to destroy our dream.
The two week trip -- which also included visits to Venice and Florence -- was everything I’d ever dreamed of. And more. Until I got sick our last night in Rome. Which wasn’t all that surprising given that I’d written for thirty-two hours straight in order to make my deadline the day before our flight took off. I kept shrugging it off, but by the time we got to Venice, I couldn’t manage to eat even pasta or ice cream. When I could no longer – yikes! – drink wine, I threw in the towel. The hotel clerk called a doctor who, although it was Friday evening, agreed to extend his office hours to see me.

We walked the two blocks to his office, which didn’t do much to instill confidence. The waiting room was so small there was only space for two stools, and if a third person had shown up, he’d have had to wait outside on the street. The examining room, which included the standard table, the doctor’s desk, and a skeleton standing in the corner, wasn’t much bigger.

After diagnosing me with something called “Mediterranean Fever,” the very sympathetic put me on a dose of antibiotics and a bunch of other drugs. I didn’t understand what all they were -- because the labels were in Italian -- but I was desperate enough not to ask questions.

Except on those occasions when my sweetie would wake me up to make me take another pill, I slept around-the-clock, for a full twenty-four hours. Then woke up cured. And really, really hungry.

Unfortunately, Venice is a pretty bustling on Saturday night, and I still wasn’t up to the hard partying taking place in all the restaurants we kept passing while searching out food. Then, at the far end of one street, we saw this nearly deserted café.

When Jay asked if they were open, the cook welcomed us in as if we were family. Which, as it turned out, everyone else in the place was. Apparently they’d closed to have dinner with relatives visiting from the States. But, being Italian, no way would they refuse to feed a guest. So, we sat there beneath the stars and the lights strung over the outdoor tables, listening to the sad, sweet weeping of a violin drifting on the summer night air, eating spaghetti and drinking local Chianti. It probably wasn’t the best meal we’ve ever had. But it was, hands down, our most romantic night. In fact, we both agreed that we felt exactly like that most romantic of all movie couples.No, not Audrey Hepburn and Gregory Peck. Lady and the Tramp.



So, the questions of the day are, what would you consider the most romantic way to spend Valentine’s Day? And do you have a personal special romantic memory? Enter my FreshFiction.com February contest, TEN lucky winners will receive an autographed book of their choice from my backlist (subject to availability), along with assorted bookmarks, covers, and a Freefall special dark chocolate bar. They’ll also be entered in a drawing for a traditional South Carolina sea grass basket filled with scrumptious Lowcountry treats. The winners of the baskets will be announced on my website, http://www.joannross.com/ on March 1.



As a bonus feature I am also running a ONE DAY ONLY Blog Contest today. Two lucky winners will receive an autographed book of their choice from my backlist (subject to availability), along with assorted bookmarks, covers, and a Freefall special dark chocolate bar.

Anne Gracie | On Beloved Books and Banter

I write in a room lined with beloved books - it's like being with old friends. I know chunks of some of these keepers by heart. For some reason it's usually dialogue I remember, some favorite exchange between the characters.

I love the banter that takes place between a hero and heroine, particularly where they're talking about one thing, but there's a delicious sexual undercurrent underlying the whole conversation.

I'm not talking about suggestiveness, but banter as a sexy duel, a form of courtship, a dance, a game that neither can lose. Good banter always makes me smile.

Some books, some heroes, lend themselves to it more than others. For me, it's usually the hero who starts it. For instance, here's an example from my current book, THE STOLEN PRINCESS, where the Regency hero gets the heroine all hot and bothered with just a few teasing words.

She gave him a severe look. "I told you, I have no desire to put myself under the thumb of any man, ever again."

"But it wasn't my thumb I was thinking of." He said it with such a— such a wicked, laughing look she was hard put to know what to say. So she turned on her heel and walked off.

It took her several minutes of marching along as fast as her legs could carry her before she was able to think at all, let alone think of an appropriately crushing, yet dignified response. His words, along with that laughing smile in his eyes, were a pure invitation to sin. She snorted. Nothing pure about it!

* * *

Later she tells him:

"You know perfectly well what I meant by not wanting to be under the thumb. My entire life has been spent under the rule of two extremely autocratic men — first my father and then my husband. Now I have had my first ever taste of freedom, and nothing — no man —could ever taste sweeter than that."

"Is that a challenge?" he said softly.

"No! Do not be so frivolous."

"I wasn't," he said in a meek voice, but his eyes were dancing.

It was the color, she thought irrelevantly. She'd never seen such blue, blue eyes. Like sunlight sparkling on the sea. Another thing that wasn't fair. Men shouldn't be allowed to have eyes like that.

They walked on and, as they turned a corner, the house came into view. Thank goodness, Callie thought. She might have been walking on a firm graveled path, but it had felt in some ways like she'd been negotiating a marsh, full of traps for the unwary.

He was a very dangerous man! She glanced at him and found him watching her.

"I'm so relieved," he told her.

Callie could not imagine what he was talking about. "Relieved?"

"That you're not afraid of my thumbs. I think they're quite nice thumbs — for thumbs, that is. Don't you think?" He spread his hands out for her to inspect, and though it was clearly ridiculous, she couldn't help glancing at his hands.

"What do you think?" he asked.

She gave them a second critical look and sniffed. "All I can see is that your thumbs are rather large," she said in a quelling voice.

He gave her a slow smile. "Exactly."

Callie had no idea why she should blush, but she did. "I think our breakfast will be ready now," she said and marched briskly back to the breakfast room.

He strolled along beside her. "Yes, I'm ravenous." The way he said it, he didn't just mean for food.

Callie walked faster.

* * *

On one level it's a conversation about nothing much, really, but on another, the sexy duel has begun; we can see he's all out to seduce her -- starting with nothing but words. And thumbs. LOL.

What are your beloved books and what do you love best about them? Enter my one day contest and win a copy of THE STOLEN PRINCESS.

Anne Gracie

http://www.annegracie.com/

Chris Marie Green | MIDNIGHT REIGN, Vampire Babylon, Book Two

Years and years ago, when I still played with Barbies, Saturday nights were a magical time. They were all about steak dinners with the family around the candlelit table and my dad smoking his cigar in the backyard afterward. Saturday nights were also when IN SEARCH OF… aired on TV, and I remember watching it, enthralled, and oftentimes, scared to death when Leonard Nimoy told us about things like The Loch Ness Monster and Bigfoot.

Of course, I was young, and I freaked out at everything. So when a certain episode about vampires aired, it left an indelible impression that’s stayed with me until this day.

Long claws, sharp teeth, a woman in bed with a gnarly shadow creeping over her…. I was hooked, and it’s no surprise that I’m writing about vampires now for Ace Books.

In keeping with what scared me when I was younger, my own vampires usually have a mean streak and will do anything to survive. In fact, my first vamp book THE HUNTRESS (for the defunct Bombshell line from Silhouette) featured a tribe of female bloodsuckers, feral and hard to slay. I loved those gals, but the real villain in that story was vampirism itself.

I suppose you could say the same about my Vampire Babylon series, a noir-mystery-fantasy with romantic elements. This particular group survives because of secrecy; among their many gifts, they’re great spies who continually mess with the heroine, Dawn Madison, and her new team of hunters. Every book in the series revolves around a vampire-related mystery, but to me, the horror comes from how far a person might go to capture long-lasting life, youth, and fame.

Here’s a hint of what the first book in the series was about:



But NIGHT RISING, Book One (2/07), concerned more than Jesse Shane’s death. Dawn got sucked into the search for a vampire underground when her dad went missing, and her personal discoveries go hand-in-hand with what she finds out about these vampires—and what her own mother’s death might’ve had to do with them.

As you can see in this next trailer, the second book, MIDNIGHT REIGN (2/5/08), continues Dawn’s search for her dad.



There are a lot of twists and turns for you mystery fans. And for those of you who want to follow the relationship between Dawn and The Voice? There’s plenty of that, too, and BREAK OF DAWN, Book Three (out in September) is going to delve into Dawn’s search for who "Jonah" really is!

I hope you stop by my Web site at http://www.vampirebabylon.com/ because, among other things, I’m giving away a great prize for the contest. It’s a "museum quality" Giclee print called "Little Blood Sucker," and it’s signed by the artist, Billy Martinez of Neko.

Isn’t it great? I’ve got one hanging on my own wall.

Thank you for reading, and happy hunting!

Chris Marie Green (AKA Crystal Green) writes full time across the genres. Besides her Vampire Babylon series, she writes for Harlequin Blaze and Silhouette Special Edition. You can visit her other web sites at http://www.crystal-green.com/and www.myspace.com/vampirebablylon.

Melody Thomas | Happy Endings find us all happier. What could be wrong with that?

Some years ago I sat in a movie theater watching, The Perfect Storm. I must have been the only one present who did not know this was a true story, therefore the ending set in the proverbial stone of historical fact. Up until the point all three of the heroes perished, I had been waiting for that miraculous intervention, anything that would save them. When the movie ended, I was so aggravated that I had sat through the entire movie and had nothing but a sense of doom to show for my time. So my question to you is: what is the point of a movie or a book if it does not end with at least the hope that the characters we suffer with will be happy when the story ends. This is one of the reasons I don’t trust mainstream fiction or movies that are supposed to have a meaningful message to us poor, beleaguered souls of humanity. Too often, such entertainment leaves me depressed. In addition, because I am a writer, I have concluded that it is a lot easier for an author to give a book or a movie a sad ending than it is for one to deliver the hope of happiness. It takes great skill to leave a reader, who has just been put through an emotional wringer with a character, elevated at the story’s end. It is far easier for a writer to let characters dangle indefinitely in perpetual misery than it is to build the foundation for a happy ending. A good story accomplishes this feat. A great story resonates long after we close the book. Knowing that our intrepid heroine has overcome adversity, taken control of her life and destiny, and found true love, empowers us all as we embrace her happy ending as if it were our own. A great romance does this by invoking all of our emotions throughout the book and, just at the moment when all feels lost, somehow pulls it all together and yanks that worried reader back from the brink. That quality is what makes this wonderful genre the most popular and bestselling mass market genre in the world. As a writer of romance novels, I am proud to stand up for the happy ending.

To that happy end, I hope you check out my latest two historical romantic suspense releases from Avon, Wild and Wicked in Scotland and Sin and Scandal in England. I write emotion and grit with some humor, and guarantee that though my characters’ trials and tribulations are many, they do earn their happily-ever-after ending.

Melody Thomas

Website: http://www.melodythomas.com/

Anna Campbell | What a Beauty Is This Beast!

Great romances often have a mythic underpinning that adds depth and resonance. So a road romance can echo The Odyssey or a Harlequin Presents can hark back to the universal themes of Cinderella. I believe readers, even if not consciously aware of these patterns, recognize the structure in their subconscious minds. So the satisfaction we get at the end of The Ugly Duckling when the duckling after all his trials turns into the beautiful swan is the same satisfaction we get at the end of a great love story where the plain governess snags the fabulously glamorous Regency rake who recognizes her inner beauty.

One of my favorite fairytales is Beauty and the Beast so it’s no surprise it’s behind a lot of my stories. Beauty is a lot gutsier and more proactive than many fairytale heroines (I mean, Sleeping Beauty basically…sleeps!). Although she’s sure it means her death, Beauty offers herself up as the Beast’s prisoner to save her father. She’s also got some great values although perhaps a financial adviser mightn’t go astray. Still, it’s a lovely moment when after the sisters have asked for everything that walks and talks from their father, Beauty asks for nothing more than a rose. I love the Beast too. I love that his outer shell doesn’t match his inner heroism. I love that he loves Beauty so much. There’s a wonderful old French film of Beauty and the Beast where the Beast’s pain and loneliness just break my heart, especially when he admits his shame at being an animal before the woman he loves.

My second historical romance for Avon, Untouched, uses the themes of Beauty and the Beast. Matthew, the hero, has a lot in common with the Beast. In fairytale terms, he’s been cursed by his wicked uncle and forced to live as a captive madman. But like the Beast, Matthew has an inner strength that nothing can quash and like the Beast, when he falls in love with Grace, the heroine, it’s completely and forever. And as in the fairy story, Grace gradually sees past the façade to the wonderful man beneath. Only when they surrender to love and unite against evil can they break the curse and get their happily ever after. Which is how all the best fairytales end!

What’s your favorite fairytale? Does it find echoes in your favorite romances? And don’t forget to check out news, excerpts and my latest contest on http://www.annacampbell.info/

Anna Campbell

Susan Stephens| Happy New Year

Happy New Year, everyone!

It’s great to be here so I can wish you all the very best for 2008.

I’m thrilled to announce the release of 3 books in January and February.

The first, Laying Down the Law, is particularly dear to my heart, because it tells the story of a young trainee barrister and her bad-boy American Italian pupil master, Lorenzo Domenico.

I can’t deny this UK Modern Heat release was inspired by my daughter training to be a lawyer- but she now complains she never got to meet anyone remotely like Lorenzo!

Bought: One Island, One Bride, is a Harlequin Presents release in February, and was inspired by my meeting a passionate environmentalist while I was holidaying in the Greek islands.

It was impossible not to be inspired by the romantic promise of such a fabulous setting, and by the passion of Jamie, the young man who opened our eyes to the vulnerable eco-systems surrounding us. (I only hope Jamie hasn’t minded my changing him into my heroine, Ellie Mendoras!)

My third book, The Tycoon’s Virgin

Is a Harlequin Presents 2nd cycle release in February, which means it will be shelved near the Desire titles, and a little later in the month than is usual for Presents.

The Tycoon’s Virgin was inspired by my house move to the remote Yorkshire moors and features a girl with plenty to hide and a hero who is determined to uncover all her secrets- Plus there’s plenty of hot mud and steamy showers in between!

Prize news

Some time in January I’ll be announcing a winner on my Blog, chosen at random from our list of Birthday Babies- and that winner will win a special hamper of gifts to make the New Year start with some much deserved pampering.

Plus, from January to June 2008 I am inviting you to bring two friends to join my Birthday Babies club. All you have to do is contact my assistant Lee at lee@susanstephens.net with your name and the names and info for your two friends who want to sign up and you will be entered into a special draw as a thank you. Yes, you have 2 chances to win!

I’ve also got some super new bookmarks to give away, so if you’d like one just send a self-addressed, stamped envelope to:

Leena’s Goodie Room
Susan Stephens Goodies
4411, 76th Ave. West # 2
University Place, WA 98466
USA

USA readers should put 41 cents postage on the envelope and overseas readers should email lee@susanstephens.net for more information on how to get a bookmark.

Don’t forget, I love hearing from readers at susan@susanstephens.net and in the meantime, I’d like to wish you and those closest to you a very happy New Year with lots of love, laughter and reading pleasure!


Susan

http://www.susanstephens.net/

Laura Drewry | Self Discipline

Last year, I set three goals.

1. Sell more books
2. Lose weight
3. Learn self discipline

Well, to quote the always quotable Meatloaf, two outta three ain't bad. I sold two more books and I lost the weight. So this year I've decided to tackle the whole self discipline thing. How hard can it be? It's simply a matter of retraining my brain, right? (snicker chuckle snort)

In order to lose the weight, I had to learn a bit of self discipline. And although I still believe Reeces Peanutbutter Cups and buttered popcorn deserve to have their own section on the food group pyramid, I no longer believe I'll die if I don't eat both of them every day. So, with the basic principal of "I've sort of done it before, so surely I can expand on it further", I've set out to define the areas in which I need to increase my self discipline:

1. I write in fits and spurts, instead of every day. That has to change.

2. I have convinced myself that plotting is the curse of death and that winging it is the only way I can write. That has to change.

3. I tend to let my 'office' (for lack of a better word) turn into a dumping ground, leaving me feeling overwhelmed and claustrophobic. That definitely has to change.

And

4. I've never exercised regularly. That probably won't change, but never say never, right? :-) After reading Maggie's post from the other day, I'm definitely more inclined, I just need to find the self discipline. Funny how this all comes around full circle, eh?

Every writer has his/her own way of doing things, and they don't always make sense to anyone else. The funny thing is that my way of writing doesn't always make sense to me, and I'm the one doing it! I love writing and I love that every single writer has a different process of getting from blank page to the finished work. What I don't love is knowing that no matter how organized and anal I might be in the rest of my life, I haven't been able to duplicate that methodology into my writing life.

It'll happen, though. I mean, honestly, if I can retrain my brain to believe I can get by without the almighty Reeces, surely I can retrain it to plan and plot a little, right? Right?!?

Laura Drewry

Patrice Michelle | Always evolving…

The great thing about being an author is that the learning curve on your job is limitless. You’re probably wondering why I think that’s a good thing. LOL! I think it’s great because in my mind, I’m always learning. When I look at the books I wrote five years ago and the books I’m writing today, I can see how much I’ve grown as a writer; how my style and my approach to writing stories has changed.

I’ve always loved a good story alongside my romance, but somewhere along the line, I wanted more. So I delved headlong into the vast paranormal genre. But even writing a straight paranormal romance wasn’t enough, and I began to add subplots, which evolved into suspenseful plot twists, which turned into more surprises in the story than even I had expected.

Layering emotional romance over complicated plotlines with mystery elements forced another transition in my writing—moving from being a pantser writer (write-by-the-seat-of-my-pants), with no planning at all, to morphing into a hybrid style author where I wrote a high-level outline as to how the story would play out to the end. Would I follow it? Not necessarily (hence the reason I’m a hybrid writer *g*), but it gave me a loose roadmap to follow.

Along the way, I began to add more action scenes to my stories: from fight scenes to chase scenes. I loved them. But the writing style for an action scene verses a love scene is very different in tone and structure, and yet another facet learned and tucked away in my writer's tool box.

Throughout all these transitions, there’s one aspect I’ve had to keep in mind with my stories. Blending fast paced and complicated plotlines with main characters that are just as deep, just as complex and just as intriguing is a delicate balance, one that leaves me challenged, energized and…always evolving.

Patrice Michelle

http://www.patricemichelle.net/

Patrice's latest release Scions: Resurrection, the first book in her SCIONS trilogy is out on the shelves now!

Kerry A. Jones | Love, Magic, Honor....

At the start of each new year, my thoughts linger on endings and beginnings. I think of memories and changes and the finite things about which I have hope. Then, there are those things that carry over from year to year, and book to book. The idea of true love conquering all. Soul mates. Love at first sight.

In 2007, Loved Enough was released – my first contemporary romance and a story of love rekindled. Later in the year I ventured from contemporary into paranormal with Cast in Stone (Book One of the Quinguard Immortals Series.)

He waited seven hundred years to find her.

For what seemed an eternity, Julen endured a nightly punishment that never should have been his. Descended from a line of ancient warriors, he vowed not to become the creature his persecutors claimed he was - the creature they did their best to make him into. Now that he has found the healer who can end his nightly torment, the stirring she creates in his Agathyrsi blood threatens to bring more danger than redemption.

She was sworn to destroy him.

Sofia Evan, owner of Fortune's Cup coffeehouse, had been raised on family lore and responsibility passed down through generations on a rare parchment. She never believed the darkness and pain in its tales to be more than myth, never questioned the reasons for the gifts that set her apart from all the rest. Until one winter morning changes everything. Now the breathtaking man who haunts her waking hours is the very being whose curse she must put an end to - one way or another.

I’m very excited about 2008, which will see the release of Book Two in my Quinguard series. I love these characters! They’ve helped add a sense of magic, redemption and honor to the list of those things that must carry over…

Come visit me at www.myspace.com/kerrywrites, or stop by http://www.blacklyonpublishing.com/. Thanks for reading! And thanks, Fresh Fiction, for inviting me to blog here today.

Kerry A. Jones

Angela Steed | "What is a 1080 Kiss?"

I’ve been asked that quite a few times and have come up with several different answers. I came up with one in particular that I thought was pretty good, but it turns out it had too much comedy involved to get a positive response from the asker. So here’s the other answer to the enigmatic question, "What is a 1080 Kiss?"

"A 1080 Kiss is when your special someone’s lips touch your lips in a kiss, it sends your head into a weakening-of-the-knees spiral, thus doing a 1080, or two or three."

Okay, maybe not quite the perfect answer, but it’s as close as I could get to a logical one. Luckily, I recently conducted an interview with Vince and Morgan and asked them this specific question. Here’s what they had to say about it:

Vince: "It sounds like a new snowboarding stunt. I’d probably be doing it right now if I hadn’t been dragged here for this interview."

Morgan: "Ever since he brought home his gold medals from the Winter Games, he’s been like this."

Vince: "Like what?"

Morgan: "Eager to get out of your responsibilities. I know the Winter Games is still a-ways off, but you have to keep up your appearances otherwise…"

Vince: "Yes, I know, the sponsors will find someone else. You remind me all the time. You’d think after marrying her she’d let up on me, but no, she’s just as pushy and unrelenting as ever."

Morgan: "Don’t take that tone with me!"

Vince: "What are you going to do, ground me? Okay, mom!" (He rolls his eyes at her—big mistake I can see)

Morgan: "Why you arrogant…!@#$...!@#$..." The rest of this profanity was removed per request of the guest, and by me since I really don’t want to write out such language for my readers to see.

After the brief argument between the two lovebirds, order was finally restored and the interview went on. Just to shorten it and get to the point, I’ll leave you with Morgan’s final statement about what a 1080 Kiss really is. I find her answer most refreshing to say the least. It gives a sense that true love, despite the struggles and hardships that occur in the process will live on forever in our hearts and souls.

Morgan: "When I met Vince, I knew in my heart he was different then most men. He was gracious, though stubborn in a sense I wanted to strangle him at one moment, and then cradle him in my arms the next. It can be confusing when you’re not sure what the other person is feeling at the time a relationship begins. I suppose when this happens, you create circles around yourself, building walls around your heart hoping you won’t get hurt like the times before. I was rather insecure to begin with, but luckily, after some deep soul searching, I found my stability in him. He never gave up on me no matter what. And when he finally kissed me, it shot straight through to my soul, sealing my feet to solid ground. I knew then that he was the one I wanted to be with for the rest of my life. I’ll love him forever, or as long as he’ll put up with me anyway."

I’d never seen a grown man with so much stubbornness suddenly melt like butter on hot pavement. I was finally able to see the side she’d fallen in love with, and I’ve got to admit I was a bit envious. He pulled her into his arms and kissed her with such an intense, yet charming passion that even I felt the sparks suddenly ignite the room into flames. I knew then that her answer, when brought together with mine, was right on the money. And I could see plain as day by the look she gave afterward that she’d just experienced a 1080 Kiss.

If you’d like to read more of this interview, please request it at www.myspace.com/angelasteed. I’d be more than happy to post the rest on my blog.

You can also go to http://www.angelasteed.com/ and leave me a note in my Guestbook. I love getting new messages!

If you’d like to read 1080 Kiss, you can purchase it at www.blacklyonpublishing.com/ or any of the great online retailers and bookstores such as Amazon.com.

Thanks to Fresh Fiction for having me here today. I really enjoyed doing this and hope to do it again soon.

Angela

Sherry Thomas | A very fine setting

After a voracious romance reader had read an advance copy of my debut historical romance, Private Arrangements, she emailed and told me that she loved the book, but being a devotee of the Regency era, she was surprised at how different and modern the turn-of-the-century setting felt. So when Fresh Fiction asked me to guest blog, I immediately thought of a whirlwind introduction to my favorite era for readers who might be unfamiliar with it.

La Belle Époque, aka fin de siècle, aka the (more loosely defined) Edwardian era, refers to a time period that comprises the last two decades of the nineteenth century and the first fourteen years of the twentieth century, until the outbreak of World War I.

Victoria still reigned in the 1890s, the decade in which both of my first two books are set. But oh what a different world she lived in from when she’d first ascended the throne.

Early in the nineteenth century, travel was still slow and laborious. But by the end of the century, you could cross the Atlantic in less than a week. And then, make the trip from London to Edinburgh in eight-and-half hours on the Scotch Special Express (later renamed the Flying Scotsman). The telegraph, the Victorian internet, brought news from far ends of the globe to the average man in his next day’s newspaper. The telephone was already in use in wealthier homes, as well as electricity—though with its cheap and abundant coal and still relatively cheap and abundant supply of indoor servants, Britain would not adopt central heating for many years to come.

Globalization, a word that seems synonymous with our era, was but an acceleration of the bustling international trade that was part and parcel of life at the end of the nineteenth century. Tea, sugar, and spices had always been imported. But with the increasing urbanization of Britain, the cities needed more food than could be supplied by the surrounding countryside, and so grains were imported from South America and meat from New Zealand. Raw materials, from cotton to copper to guano, sailed into Liverpool, Southampton, and the Port of London. And finished goods from industrial Britain sailed out in the cargo holds of her merchant fleets.

It was an era of rapid scientific and technological advancement. Vaccines for human use were manufactured. Karl Benz (sounds familiar?) had produced the first commercial automobile. Engineers and aviators had been experimenting with self-powered aircrafts since 1890 (the Wright Brothers made their flight in 1903). And in Private Arrangements, set in 1893, a minor character, who is an astronomer, had a paper of his mentioned, a paper that dealt with the capture of comets by Jupiter—a subject lifted right out of an actual paper published around that time.

In art, salon art reigned supreme, with William-Adolphe Bouguereau being the most admired artist of his day; but under the radar, the Impressionists were working hard. In literature, Dickens was long dead and Oscar Wilde, until he was sent to prison for homosexuality, was the most successful dramatist and one of the greatest literary celebrities. In the upper echelon, the fun-loving, amorous Prince of Wales set the pace, the aristocracy having long tired of his mother’s rather staid and stuffy society.

Women’s lives were becoming less restricted. The Suffragist Movement was in full swing. There were several residential colleges for women in England. Women, even married women, could now work outside the home and still remain respectable. The first woman doctor began practicing in Britain in 1865. The first English woman lawyer would not practice until after WWI, but elsewhere in the British Empire, the first woman lawyer was admitted to the bar in 1897 in Canada (the first American woman lawyer was admitted to the bar in 1892).

There are many things that I love about writing in this period. First, no need to invent heroes and heroines who bathed at abnormal frequencies—given the advances in home comfort and medical understanding, personal hygiene was rigorously practiced at the turn of the century, at least from the middle class on up.

Two, the dynamic life and increasing independence of women. I can write about an heiress who has set a goal for herself to become a duchess, and I do. But my heiress also runs her own large and complex enterprise, because after the Married Women’s Property Act of 1882, her legal identity was no longer subordinated to her husband’s after the wedding, and what was hers remained hers.

Three, although changes were coming fast and furious, there was still a tremendous formality and rigidity in people’s lives and many, many rules of etiquette. Innocent little things we take for granted today—holding hands in public with a boyfriend, wearing trousers—would have caused an uproar. This gives a wonderful tension for a writer to explore the sexual charge in a look, a word, a hand held a fraction of a second too long.

But don’t take my word for it. Experience the late Victorian/Edwardian era in romance for yourself. The following are my recommendations:

The Shadow and the Star, by Laura Kinsale. 1887. against the backdrop of Queen Victoria’s Golden Jubilee.

Beast, by Judith Ivory. 1902. Transatlantic voyage on a luxury liner. The best the Gilded Age had to offer.

The Proposition, by Judith Ivory. 1899. A reverse “My Fair Lady” story.

The Bridal Season, by Connie Brockway. 1890s.

And Then He Kissed Her, by Laura Lee Guhrke. 1893

Louisa Burton | BOUND IN MOONLIGHT

It’s December 26, Boxing Day, one of my all-time favorite holidays. Not that I know what it’s about—I looked it up in Wikipedia and I still don’t get it—but because it marks the winding down of the annual Chrismahanukwanzakah Festivity Vortex. Much as I love the holidays, this time of year tends to make me just a little bit tense. It always seems like there’s a whole lot more stuff to do than I have time for in my already harried life, and I have to admit to a sigh of relief when it’s all over but for New Year’s—which, in our upstate New York household, means champagne and cigars with our closest pals as we huddle under afghans in the “smoking lounge” (our screened-in back deck) until the wee hours. My favorite night of the year.

But back to Boxing Day. This year, there’s another reason to love it, and that’s because it’s the release date for Bound in Moonlight, the second book in my Hidden Grotto series. You can’t miss it in the bookstores—it’s the trade paperback with the bright, shiny gold cover and an oval inset of Bouguereau’s Evening Mood, a romantic Victorian masterpiece. I’ve posted this fabulous painting on my website, if you’d like to take a look. Click here and scroll down.

Being the artsy fartsy type, I love that Bantam is going with classic art for my covers. The paintings they’ve chosen are not only gorgeous, but sensual and evocative, which is perfect, given that the Hidden Grotto series is erotic fiction. Actually, “erotic fantasy” might be a better description, because the stars of the series are four beautiful immortal beings who live in a secluded French château and thrive on sexual energy: an incubus, a succubus, a djinni, and every reader’s favorite trend-loving satyr with the mythic endowments, boyish grin, and MySpace page: the now-legendary Inigo.

The readers who wrote to me about the first book in the series, House of Dark Delights, begged for more of Inigo, who accordingly gets a whole lot more “screen time” in Book #2. Bound in Moonlight is comprised of three closely linked stories set at the château, each of which explores a different aspect of enslavement—physical, psychological, and of course, sexual.

In the first story, “Tutelage,” which is set in 1902, Emily Townsend, an American “dollar princess” engaged to a land-poor British nobleman, walks in on her betrothed doing the wild thing with two women. At first appalled, then curious about what she’s been missing all this time, Emily takes our merrily lusty Inigo up on his offer to teach her a thing or two... or three.

We journey back to the Regency era for the second story. “Slave Week” takes place during an annual event in which moneyed libertines bid at auction for temporary “ownership” of beautiful women of their own class whom they may enjoy at the château in any manner they desire. Enter Caroline Keating, a ruined rector’s daughter just desperate enough to put herself on the block, only to be purchased by a brooding rakehell with a dark past whose depraved demands are meant to keep her at a distance.

Fast forward to the present day for “Magic Hour,” in which Isabel Archer (yes, she was named after the Henry James character), long enamored with the charismatic young lord of the château, makes a rare visit only to find a porn film being shot there—a film based on the events in the first story, “Tutelage.” (Read the book—it’ll all make sense.)

The world of the Hidden Grotto, which has become all too real to me, is explored in barking-mad detail on my website, louisaburton.com. I’ve just finished revamping it, so stop by and then drop me a comment here letting me know what you think of it—or of my blog, where I’m posting a column on writing and publishing called FictionCraft. And if you have any questions about what it’s like to write “intellismut,” as my friends call it, bring ‘em on!

Louisa

louisaburton.com
myspace.com/inigothesatyr
uncutandunexpurgated.com

Claudia Pemberton | "LEAVE NO ONE BEHIND" - A CREED OF HONOR AND INSPIRATION

First of all, I wish a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to everyone who happens upon my blog. I’d also like to thank the folks at Fresh Fiction for being so gracious and supportive of my debut novel, "Love Leaves No One Behind."

I spent several hours contemplating on what my topic of choice would be for this golden opportunity to speak to such a large gathering of readers, and after some heated debating with myself, I decided to do what I do best …and that is to simply just start talking, and see what my heart has to say.

A few years ago I decided to try my hand at writing. I knew that my endeavor would challenge my intellect (and most certainly my patience) but I had no idea of the impact it would have on my heart and soul.

My story began, believe it or not, as the result of a dream … yes, an actual dream. I remember upon awakening, thinking what a great plot said dream would make for a novel. Convincing myself that attempting to write a book was a grand idea, I set about the daunting task of creating my characters and storyline. At a certain point, I concluded that my heroine needed a friend, and by that I mean a true friend … not a love interest … but a trusted male friend. Without a moment’s hesitation, I decided that her friend would be a military man. After all, who better to represent friendship than a person who is willing to (and often does) lay down his own life for his friends? That is where my entire storyline changed … and so did my heart.

Although a work of fiction, I wanted my characters (especially my military guy) to be as authentic as possible, so I began researching the military and its soldiers. After stumbling upon a copy of the U.S. Army Ranger Creed which declares that an Army Ranger will never leave a fallen comrade behind, my “friend” came to life in the form of U.S. Army Ranger Jesse Daulton.

During research, I read about such heroes as: Jason Dunham, Paul Smith, Gary Gordon, Randall Shughart, Donald Ballard, Robert Ingram, and Roy Benavidez to name but a few. I was heartbroken with respect and admiration by their stories of selfless bravery and honor, but at the same time strengthened by their courage. I was hit with a heavy dose of patriotism, and I don’t think I’ll ever be the same. I hope not anyway. I believe patriotism is a condition of the heart … and once it’s discovered, it can never again be denied, silenced, or ignored.

To make a long story short, when I began embracing the military and its heroes (to my pleasant surprise) they embraced me right back. I was invited to participate (alongside Deborah Tainsh, award winning author of “Heart of Hawk”) in the God Bless Fort Benning Day festivities, in Columbus, Georgia on November 17, 2007. God Bless Fort Benning Day is an annual celebration to honor America’s military with more than 20,000 people in attendance. At this prestigious event, I was lucky enough to get to meet hundreds of soldiers in person, and got to speak directly to our soldiers deployed to Iraq by way of a “live feed” with Bob Calvert and "Talking with Heroes.com." That was an awesome privilege … to get to speak to (and thank) our soldiers personally for their service and sacrifice.

To sum up … I’m often asked how I went about writing and publishing my novel. Most of the people asking this question feel as though they have a story in them somewhere just waiting to be told. I tell them to roll up their sleeves, prepare for grueling, long hours in front of a computer screen, don some thick skin (and quick) because you’re going to take some pretty hard hits when it comes to finding a publisher and/or agent … and then prepare for the greatest experience of your life … writing a novel. I highly recommend it! Just close your eyes, open you mind, and in many instances, just let your heart speak. Not only is it a discovery of words and storytelling … often it’s a discovery of something even more worthwhile … an awakening within yourself.

www.writingsbyclaudia.com/

www.myspace.com/writingsbyclaudia

Coming Soon: The sequel to “Love Leaves No One Behind.”

Brenda K. Jernigan | Christmas and Other Stuff

OK – I do have a new book out - Southern Seduction by Alexandria Scott, so I probably should talk about the book first.

It’s what I call an old time romance. Remember the ones you read that made you sigh once you had finished because it gave you such a good feeling? Well that is what Southern Seduction is and yes I felt just that way when I finished reading the galley. Here is a short intro into the book.

Between desire and surrender lies a new beginning – and that is just what Brooke Hammond has to do – start over.

They didn’t start out to be whores. But sometimes life doesn’t turn out the way one plans, so you do what you must in order to survive.

As Brooke Hammond, Shannon McKinley and Jocelyn Rutland stand at the ship’s rail; they smile at the new life that awaits them. It’s their chance to put the past behind them and start a new life.

However when Brooke arrives at Moss Grove plantation she discovers a devilishly charming, infernally arrogant obstacle named Travis Montgomery, co-owner of her estate. So begins a contest of wits and will and winning the battle may mean losing everything that matters ….

I will add that there is a nice Christmas scene in Southern Seduction, which brings me to my other topic. . . Christmas

How many of you love Christmas and love to decorate? Christmas has to my favorite time of the year and it goes by too fast. If everyone could be in that cheerful mood all year – wouldn’t that be nice? I also love to decorate and have enclosed a picture of my Christmas tree last year. This year is not up yet. We’ll go and get the tree Saturday, and then it will take me 2 days to get it up because my trees are never small. Twinkling trees always takes my breath away. How do the rest of you feel about Christmas?

When the big day has come and all the presents have been opened and you have nothing else to do, I hope you will be able to settled back with Southern Seduction and be swept away and by the end of the day I hope you smile just like I did.

Merry Christmas

Francis Ray - The Graysons of New Mexico

First of all I'd like to thank the wonderful folks at Fresh Fiction for making this possible. It's always a pleasure to reach out to readers. You make all those solitary hours writing worthwhile. You are incredible and I thank you from the bottom of my heart.

During this wonderful holiday season we are especially reminded of the joy of having a close, loving family. The Graysons of New Mexico is such a family. Four gorgeous, successful brothers and one beautiful, outspoken baby sister. There was only one thing wrong - or so their loving mother thought - they weren't remotely interested in getting married. So, Ruth Grayson with a mother's uncanny perception of what her children want in a soul mate, places in their unwitting path the perfect candidate.

For Luke, the protector and the oldest, she'd chosen Catherine Stewart, a noted Child psychologist in UNTIL THERE WAS YOU. The ideal match for Morgan, the defender, in YOU AND NO OTHER, was Phoenix Bannister, a renowned sculptress. For her middle child Brandon, the nurturer, the perfect woman was Faith McBride, executive manager of a 5 star hotel in DREAMING OF YOU. Pierce, the thinker and last bachelor, learned there were no rules in love when he fell hopelessly in love with Sabra Raineau, a Broadway actress in IRRESISTIBLE YOU.

In ONLY YOU, Book #5 of the Graysons of New Mexico Series and my current release, Ruth faces her greatest challenge with Sierra, her independent and stubborn daughter her sons nicknamed The Little General. The last thing on Sierra's mind is a man - until Blade Navarone "wins" her at an auction. An unexpected and torrid kiss leaves both reeling. Each has strong reasons to fight the attraction, but sometimes love won't be denied.

Before saying goodbye, I want to wish you and yours the happiest and safest of holiday season. And of course, time to curl up with a good book.

Francis
http://www.francisray.com/

www.MySpace.com/francisray

readersoffrancisray@yahoogroups.com

Shirley Jump | The Ugly Duckling and Victoria’s Secret Models--Really Something to Talk About

The Ugly Duckling. Poor little guy, ostracized by the ducks because they thought he was ugly, not knowing he’d grow up to be a beautiful, self-assured swan. Those ducks made fun of him, ignored him, brought him to tears.

Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. His offense to reindeer kind? A nose that lit up, something they saw as a liability--and ended up being Santa’s saving grace.

Victoria’s Secret models. Who’d have thunk they’d have something in common with the Ugly Duckling and Rudolph? Well, it turns out they do. In a recent story on Fox News, these ideals of female perfection talked about how they were teased for being too thin, too plain, too whatever.

It seems when it comes to others, none of us is ever perfect enough. We’ve all experienced that middle school torture, those kids who made seventh grade hell (or freshman year, or whatever). I went through it; my own kids have gone through it. And now, in Really Something, my latest release from Zebra, my heroine, Allie Dean, goes through it, and thinks she is the only person in Tempest, Indiana, to be tortured for being different.

But what Allie doesn’t realize is that we’re all placed in little boxes by people, boxes that are formed by judgments and opinions, good or bad. She’s not the only one seen by the town as one way, when in her heart she is actually someone else.

Don’t worry, regular readers, this book is a romantic comedy, just like my other books, with a really hot hero named Duncan Henry, but this is a novel that delves deeper than any previous story has. I took chances with this one, reached further into my own heart and into the hearts of my characters. I really wanted to explore a character who had changed her exterior, who thought that because she had shed the skin of the person she used to be, that she had also shed the problems that came with that self.

Well, Allie finds out it’s not that easy. All my books have a common theme (and anyone who has read the Bonus Features section of my website has read this), drawn from my all-time favorite poem, “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock,” by T. S. Elliot. The theme of the poem is the lies we tell ourselves, and the lies we tell other people--essentially, the masks we were, in private and in public. Really Something explores this theme as well, and takes it on a town-wide level.

So what do the Ugly Duckling, Rudolph, Victoria’s Secret models and all of us have in common? Plenty. We’ve all been there, at one time or another, and can relate to her journey. So come along and read about Allie’s journey home in Really Something--where you’ll find laughter and tears, and realize that returning home is about much more than just going back to the place where you were born.


http://www.shirleyjump.com/

Colleen Thompson | The Best Job on Earth

As a long-time visitor to the Fresh Fiction site, I’m thrilled to be guest blogging in celebration of my new romantic suspense novel, The Salt Maiden. I thought I’d take some time to talk about why I think writing romantic suspense is the best job ever.

1. Real life can be tough. The news reminds us daily that terrible things can and do happen to good people, and the perpetrators all too often get away with their misdeeds. Not in my books. As tense and harrowing as they can get, by the end of each book, the deserving protagonists will find the happiness they deserve, my version of justice will be served, and the villain will pay.

2. I can indulge my passions and introduce the reader to them. From dogs to the prairies, deserts, and small towns of Texas to a host of fascinating pursuits (lately, I’ve flown in gliders and traveling to research an upcoming book), I can enrich my life – and I hope the lives of others – with the new things I learn while writing each and every tale.

3. I get to wreak havoc (car wrecks, fires, assaults, and an occasional murder-most-foul) in a controlled setting (my office). If someone’s been a jerk to me, I can give a baddie a few of this person’s characteristics (taking care to disguise him/her sufficiently) and exact my fictional revenge. This is great fun – and what a stress-buster.

4. Successfully interweaving mystery/suspense and romance is such a fascinating, challenging endeavor, I never get bored with my work. There’s always something new to learn, some way to make it better.

5. In the course of a day, I might make myself laugh, cry, or catch my breath – when I’m not falling in love with my book’s heroes. As much as I adore my husband, I’m usually ready to run off with each story’s hero by the time I finish writing.

All of this isn’t to say that writing romantic suspense (or anything else) doesn’t have its frustrations, as any other job does. But the perks remind me almost daily that the grass is pretty green on this side of the fence. As long as I’m having fun, I think (or hope!) that my enthusiasm communicates itself to readers and they’ll share a measure of my enjoyment through the pages.

http://www.colleen-thompson.com/

Lucy Monroe | James Bond Meets the Geek Squad

Cue the James Bond music and call the Geek Squad! If you like your espionage with thrills, romance and a touch of humor look no further. You'll find sensuality and sass in my new high-tech action romance, DEAL WITH THIS.

It’s lights, camera, action as this novel brings you inside the Vancouver film industry. It’s a fun look at the industry itself while taking you through a rollercoaster ride of spy action and hot romance. And maybe just a little humor.

Michelle Buonfiglio of Lifetime TV's Romance: B(u)y the Book says, "Lucy Monroe excels at creating alpha bad boys and authentic erotic romance." And Romantic Times gave DEAL WITH THIS four stars calling my characters "sexually empowering." Truth is, the love scenes sizzle and I worked to make the characters the highlight of every scene. My “alpha bad boy” Alan goes undercover to find out who is trying to auction off international secrets and finds himself on the set of a scifi TV show with the star of the show, Jillian, set to help him whether he likes it or not!

I am especially pleased with this novel because of the character development of both the hero and heroine. Alan isn’t a typical “alpha male”, but has layers of complexity to him that allow him to appreciate Jillian’s independence and accept himself without having to be in charge all the time - though he certainly takes his turn. (I'll leave it to your imagination or reading the book to figure out what that means. ::g::) Jillian is strong, sassy, fun and loveable. She won't faint at the sight of a gun and she doesn’t mind talking about sex, needs and what she really wants.

Throw in a scifi TV show, producers, spies, anti-gravity planes and really hot love scenes and you’ve got DEAL WITH THIS! Out now!



To celebrate, I'm having a month long party on my personal blog (http://lucymonroeblog.blogspot.com/). Pop by, say how-do and get entered for one of the many drawings for prizes happening.

Tracy Anne Warren | Back to Back to Back . . .

Trilogies are an interesting beast—especially back-to-back trilogies. Readers enjoy them since it means they don’t have to wait long between books to find out what happens in a series they’ve discovered and come to love. On the flip side, it does mean that once the trilogy is concluded, it’s over for a good long while––at least if the follow-up trilogy is another back-to-back.

That’s the situation that occurred with my first two trilogies––both of them written back-to-back-to-back! After the best-selling success of my debut Trap Trilogy, I was excited when my editor told me she wanted a second back-to-back trilogy. I rubbed my hands together and got right to work. But that excitement was soon tempered with expressions of frustration from some fans who wanted more books as soon as possible. While the time between trilogies seemed a bit too long to a few of my readers, it seemed very brief to me as I hurried to write three new books in the shortest amount of time I could manage. Still, in the intervening months between trilogies, my readers have been wonderfully supportive and patient, eagerly counting down the days with me!

I’m happy to confirm that the wait ended last month with the October 30th release of My Fair Mistress, the first book in my new Mistress Trilogy! In that story, young, aristocratic beauty, Julianna Hawthorne, risks her reputation and her heart by agreeing to spend six months as the mistress of Rafe Pendragon, the man who holds her brother’s gambling debt. I adored this story with its elemental conflicts of power and sacrifice as well the chance to explore the lengths to which people will go to protect and cherish those they love. Similar themes and lots of good, sexy fun continue when Rafe’s rakish best friends struggle against the inevitability of love, starting with Ethan’s story in The Accidental Mistress––which, thanks to the back-to-back release schedule––will be in stores starting November 27th. Tony’s tale follows on December 26 with His Favorite Mistress––a day-after-Christmas present, as it were.

So which release schedule do you like best? Books that come out in quick succession, but which may entail a longer wait in between new trilogies or series? Or a more frequent schedule where a new book in the same series is available every six months or so?

http://www.tracyannewarren.com/

Sylvia Day - Reaching Out

Hi Everyone,

I hope you had a lovely Thanksgiving, if it was that time of year where you live. If not, I hope it was simply a beautiful day for you!

Reaching out to readers is something I really love doing. I travel to as many readers' conferences/conventions as I can afford, I participate in book signings and guest blog when asked, and I try to keep my website as accessible as possible with areas like my blog and message board, an interactive Q & A section, and fun things like book trailers.

Funny thing is, when I meet up with readers at events I usually talk about anything but my books. Recent all-night reads, favorite recipes, interesting things to see and do in the area, mutual fan-girl moments for other authors... those are the topics I touch on most. I'm a shy person (though some who've met me don't believe it *g*) so focusing on other things is more comfortable for me.

Then, late last month, I tried a new way to interact with readers that I'd never attempted before -- podcasting. Have you listened to podcasts? Do you enjoy them? I was a bit apprehensive at first, plus I had to talk about my latest release, A PASSION FOR HIM, since that was the whole point of the interview. Despite my nervousness, I jumped in with both feet and gave it try.

Through the podcast readers can hear me talk about my book in my voice, with all the inflections it carries. It’s another way to interact and when the interview was over, I found I enjoyed it. If you’re curious about the one I did, you can listen to here: http://www.sylviaday.com/books/passion-for-him/

I’d love to hear what you think. (I’ve been too shy to listen to it myself. LOL!) Hugs and Happy Holidays!

Sylvia

Julianne MacLean | On Romance and You Tube

So here's the deal. I am a Romance writer (I write historicals), and I do what most writers feel a compulsion to do -- I make an effort to promote my books so that not just my mother will read them. I've done everything from purchasing print ads in magazines to sending shelf talkers (those pretty little flaps that hang off a store shelf under your book) to thousands of retailers. I have a website, I do book signings, and I hang out on reader message boards to connect with readers all over the world.

The one thing I had not done yet, however, was a book video.

I've been watching the whole video trailer phenomenon with interest over the past few years, and since my husband has an interest in filmmaking and we love to do things together, I was keen to give it a try. I knew I could trust him with the project because he'd already directed a short film that made it into some major film festivals, but also because hey - he's my soul mate -- and most importantly, he has great sense of humor.

This was key, because I wanted to do something fun. I wanted to produce a trailer that would entertain, because that's the promise I make to a reader every time I write a new book. My aim is to provide a few hours of entertainment, escape, laughter, and the emotional experience of falling in love. I want my readers to feel passion.

So we set out to produce a video for my newest book, In My Wildest Fantasies, with a whole lot of passion in our hearts.

My husband came up with the concept and wrote the script. We then hired the right people for the job -- from the actors to the director, the producers, and the very important hair and makeup artist who made the leading lady look like the model on the cover of my book. We hunted all over the city for the proper corset (a key element in the plot), and put immense effort into the set decoration.

It was a busy and stressful few weeks leading up to the day of shooting, but it was all worth it in the end, when everyone came together, the director said, "Action," and the cameras started rolling. It didn't end there, of course. The footage had to be edited, and a great deal of skill and artistry went into that. It took weeks, and it was 3am on the final day when my husband finally arrived home with the final cut.

If you haven't seen it yet, you can watch it on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qpkg7T8iYvc

Let me know what you think and if you found it entertaining. We had so much fun doing it, that we already have a script ready for a sequel. I guess that means more passion in the offing for hubby and me!

Jennifer Colt | The Con Artist of Catalina Island

Good morning. I am so pleased to be here blogging to you. You will notice that I use no contractions in this blog. This is because, while reading the posts below, I happened to notice that everywhere there should be an apostrophe, there is instead a question mark. I have no desire for my blog to? appear? thus??? It is very distracting and even crazy-making for someone who is a born editor.

Guess I should say why I am here. To promote my new book!

It is called The Con Artist of Catalina Island: A McAfee Twins Christmas Novel, the fourth book in the McAfee Twins novels. The McAfee girls are Terry and Kerry; identical in looks, opposite in personality. Terry is a lesbian biker with a prison record; Kerry is a good-girl type who considers herself to be the keeper of Terry. They drive each other crazy but can’t conceive of being apart. Kerry says that when Terry was in prison it was like living on borrowed air.

The girls are the proprietors of Double Indemnity Investigations, a two-woman PI firm. Normally they zip around Los Angeles solving crimes from the back of their hot pink Harley Softail Deuce, but in this book, they are tearing up an island paradise on a golf cart.

They have accompanied their rich aunt Reba and her recovering lush of a son, Cousin Robert, on a Christmas trip to quaint and lovely Santa Catalina off the California coast. No sooner do they arrive than the whole island erupts in chaos: bison stampede, a French poodle jams up traffic, a honeymooning bride mysteriously disappears and her giant diamond ring shows up in a hotel toilet. (It is fairly typical of one of my plots--very low-key.)

There is a hot sketch artist named David Solomon who has eyes for Kerry, and who may just be an arch criminal in spite of the fact that he’s a dead ringer for Jesus. (Kerry can be forgiven for falling for a "pretty face" because, as she tells the reader, this particular face is usually portrayed wearing a halo.)

That should give you a feel for the type of book I write. Now as to the why:

Why write comedy? Why spend hours and years going for a few laughs from the reading public? Laughs that I cannot even hear but can only learn about second- hand in that blessed of all communications, the fan letter?

I do it because I think we need a lot more laughter, a lot more light in this world. I think comedy and satire can speak to power in ways that are usually prohibited. I believe we are coming out of a very dark period in our history, and some of the people who have lit the way for us are brilliant comedians like Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert.

Comedy pokes holes in overblown egos. It refuses to be silenced on the issues that make us stupid: bigotry, greed, ambition, selfishness. It holds them all up to the light and shows them for what they are. In its ability to humble, nothing can top it. (Plus, I just get a kick out of writing about toothless poodles.)

Sorry to pontificate, but I just received an email asking for my blog and thus have no time to censor myself. Hope you will have a great holiday season, and here is to 2008!

Cheers,

Jennifer

http://www.jennifercoltbooks.com/

CJ Lyon | Help a starving writer!

No, I’m not going to ask you to buy my book—you couldn't even if you wanted since it doesn’t come out until March.

I need a different kind of help—the kind of help only readers can give.

First, let me introduce myself. I’m CJ Lyons and I’m a pediatric ER doc turned medical suspense author. My first novel, LIFELINES, will be published by Berkley on March 4, 2008.

I love my new job as a writer—not only can I go to work in my pj’s, I also get the chance to meet lots of interesting people and ask questions that no one else would dare.

I mean, how many 9-5er’s get to visit the FBI academy at Quantico or talk to crime scene experts about the “best” way to kill someone and get away with it?

And no beepers, trauma alerts, or 3am calls to deal with—for the first time in 17 years, I’m finally getting some sleep!

But there is one thing about being a writer that I�