What is it about Secret Identities?

I have to confess something:  I have a weakness for secret identities.  I’m not kidding – any book featuring the Scarlet Pimpernel, any Batman movie (even the Val Kilmer one) any TV show about CIA agents that can’t tell their families what they do for a living, and I will consume it with total rapt adoration.  Is it any wonder that my affinity for secret identities has led me to put one into my books?

The Blue Raven in the mysterious British spy known for his exploits for King and Country during the Peninsular War.  He first popped up in Revealed, hell bent on taking down a French rival that survived Napoleon’s defeat.  But he’s been pretty quiet since then.  That is of, course until If I Fall.

In If I Fall, the Blue Raven is an object of fascination to the heroine, and has been since she was a child.  He was her crush, her idol, the stories in the papers of his acts of derring-do fueled her young imagination.  Is it any wonder that when she meets with him in a darkened cupboard, she accepts his kisses without hesitation?

Sarah’s complete and total worship of the Blue Raven got me thinking about secret identities, and why they hold such appeal, such sway over me… er, I mean us?  And I think I’ve nailed it down to two material points.

1.     They are SECRET.

Who doesn’t like to be in on a secret?  To know what no one else knows, to have this morsel of information that can change the course of history?  We all want to be singled out as special enough to have this knowledge.  To be trusted with it, be in the know.  To be in on the secret gives you a intimacy with the one with the secret… even if you have never met them before.

When Sarah Forrester meets the Blue Raven, it is in a darkened cupboard.  She knows instantly it is him by his signature black feather.  Even though she does not know who he is under the mask, just that bush with him, his existence, sets her off on a quest to find out everything about him

2.     They are IDENTITIES.

Identities are the very essence of ourselves.  They are the core of our being.  So, this isn’t some little secret, about how you forgot to lock the car, or how you sometimes sneak into movie theaters.  (not that I’ve ever done either of these things).  This secret is for all the marbles.  It is the making and undoing of the one who holds it.  If Gotham found out that Bruce Wayne was Batman, he could never be Bruce Wayne again, if not worse.  If the Scarlet Pimpernel was ever found out, well… it would have been much worse. 

It the Blue Raven is ever found out by Sarah Forrester, he could lose he most important thing of all – he could lose her.  For you see, the Blue Raven that met with Sarah in a crowded cupboard, is actually not the Blue Raven at all – instead, it is her lifelong friend, Lieutenant Jackson Fletcher, recently returned from sea.  If she ever found out he was posing as the Blue Raven – and if she ever found out why – it would be the end of their friendship.  And lord knows, Jack feels more than friendship for Sarah.  But Sarah… she feels more than friendship for only the Blue Raven.

Perhaps these reasons seem like an over-simplification as to why Secret Identities are such a lure in our literature and culture.  But maybe it really is that simple.  Maybe we all wish we were in on the secret, the biggest secret of all.  Heck, maybe sometimes, we wish the secret was ours, and that we had this whole other side to ourselves, a side filled with mystery and adventure, and walking the tightrope between the ordinary and the extraordinary.  But for whatever reason, the Secret Identity is here to stay.

So, you tell me!  Do you love a good secret identity story, and if so, why? 

Kate

http://www.katenoble.com 

Lisa Dale: April Showers

This year has seen one of the driest springs on record. Last week, fires were breaking out all over New Jersey. One fire, in the meadowlands, set the fragmites on fire like piles of crumpled paper and sent huge black plumes into the sky.

It's very odd for spring to be so rainless. The flowers are blooming. The trees are working hard to turn green...but where's the rain?

Here's a Langston Hughes poem that felt particularly relevant:

April Rain Song

Let the rain kiss you
Let the rain beat upon your head with silver liquid drops
Let the rain sing you a lullaby
The rain makes still pools on the sidewalk
The rain makes running pools in the gutter
The rain plays a little sleep song on our roof at night
And I love the rain.

Langston Hughes

Wishing you a happy April.

Lisa Dale

P.S. A bit of good news... I'm honored this year to be among the RITA nominees! Slow Dancing on Price's Pier is up for best single title contemporary. Talk about thrilling!

Michelle Styles: Uncovering An Author's Inspiration -- Elizabeth Peters and Flinders Petrie

I have been a fan of Elizabeth Peters  and her Amelia Peabody stories ever since the first one came out back in the late 1970s. I discovered her because one of the librarians at my local library wrote to various authors asking recommendations. Phyliss Whitney wrote back suggesting both Barbara Michaels and Elizabeth Peters. In blue ink, the librarian scrawled I wonder if she knows that they are the same person. As I already liked Barbara Michaels, I figured to give Elizabeth Peters a go and was not disappointed.

Through out the intervening years, I sometimes wondered where Elizabeth Peters had the kernel of her story from, but then a couple of weeks ago, the BBC showed a documentary on Sir William Matthew Flinders Petrie aka  Flinders Petrie,  the man who founded Modern Egyptology and indeed modern archaeology and I knew I had found at least one of her inspirations.  In her other life, Peters is the Egyptologist Barbara Mertz and indeed her first published book was not a romance, mystery or gothic but a book on The Daily Life in Ancient Egypt.

Petrie was wonderfully eccentric. Despite having no formal education, he was the first man to accurately measure the pyramids. Born in 1853, he first became interested in Egypt after reading a book on the Great Pyramid. In 1880 he first went to Egypt to survey the pyramids. Because it was hot and to keep the curious away, he wore his faded red long underwear. Apparently it looked like he was naked — dreadfully shocking to the Victorians who flocked to Egypt’s many monuments. His research still provides most of the basic data for pyramid study today.

When he returned to England, he came under the patronage of Amelia Peters, a novelist,  journalist and patron of The Egypt Exploration Fund now known as the Egypt Exploration Society. After her death in 1892, he became a professor at the University College of London as she had endowed a chair of Egyptology.  He developed the systematic approach to archaeology and applied stratification or seriation to the subject. Stratification was pioneered by William “Strata” Smith  who noticed layers of sedimentary rock followed the same pattern. Petrie reasoned rightly that objects found in the same layer belonged to the same time period, and if you can date the pottery shards, you can date the entire layer. He was also the first person to really apply the notion of context to an archaeological dig  — everything was important, including where and how the object was found. One of his most famous pupils was Howard Carter who found King Tut. Excavating in both Egypt and Palestine, he is responsible for more major discoveries than practically any archaeologist. Unfortunately he was also a believer in eugenics and it is this distasteful part of his personality which means that he remains a hugely controversial figure. He married a former UCL pupil in 1896.

But I was tremendously fascinated to learn about Amelia Peters and Flinders Petrie because of Elizabeth Peters’ books and the echoes with her characters. I find it truly interesting the various bits of inspirations  other authors might have. If you have not read any of the Amelia Peabody books and are interested in intelligent and strong late Victorian heroines, I really recommend them.  They do withstand the test of time.

Michelle Styles writes warm, witty, and intimate historical romance for Harlequin Historical. Her next novel His Unsuitable Viscountess will be published in August 2012. One of her inspirations for her heroine Eleanor was  the great Regency businesswoman Eleanor Coade. You can read more about Michelle’s books on www.michellestyles.co.uk

90 Books—What I’ve Learned

This month marks the publication of my 90^th book, The Baby Dilemma, the eighth entry in my Safe Harbor Medical series for Harlequin American Romance. As you can imagine, I’ve learned a lot about writing since my earliest books.

In revising older titles prior to releasing them as ebooks, I knew I’d need to update the technology (such as cell phones) and cultural references. But along the way, I discovered how much my writing skills have grown. Here’s a sample of the changes I’ve made.

A Lady’s Point of View. This Regency romance (set in the era of Jane Austen) was first published by Harlequin in 1989. The story involves a nearsighted young lady who gets on the wrong carriage and is mistaken for a governess—and decides she prefers that role to rusticating at home. I tell my writing students not to head-hop, or switch back and forth in viewpoint. Imagine my dismay on discovering I’d done exactly that in several scenes, and in a book that has the term Point of View in the title! Of course I rewrote those scenes. By the way, I’ve priced this ebook at 99 cents to introduce readers to my half-dozen Regencies.

By Leaps and Bounds. This 1990 story focuses on an injured ballerina striving for a comeback while falling in love with the policeman father of one of her students. Harlequin liked it so much they reprinted it in 2010. I figured all it needed for the ebook edition was a little updating. But when I reached the ending, I wanted more emotional impact, so I rewrote the last scene.

Unlikely Partners. I still love the premise of this 1987 romantic comedy. Shy librarian Sarah Farentino gets involved in solving a mystery with the handsome fiancé of a missing heiress and fears she’s losing her heart to a man who loves someone else. In revising it and the sequel, Capers and Rainbows (the story of the heiress herself), I made the writing much funnier. My comic timing and voice have improved more than I realized.

Some ebooks required only minor changes. These include the paranormal romantic thriller Touch Me in the Dark, my mysteries Danger Music and The Eyes of a Stranger, and my fantasy Shadowlight.  

By contrast, I decided not to reissue half a dozen other titles at all, because the premises seemed either out of date or just not exciting enough. If you’re curious, you’ll find a list of these titles at www.jacquelinediamond.com/books.

I now teach writing through LongRidgeWritersGroup.com, and have gathered my accumulated wisdom in the ebook How to Write a Novel in One (Not-so-easy) Lesson. But I learn something new with each book, and I hope that never stops!

The author of 90 published novels, Jacqueline Diamond writes the Safe Harbor Medical miniseries for Harlequin American Romance. A former Associated Press TV columnist and recipient of a Career Achievement Award from Romantic Times Magazine, Jackie has put together writing tips in the ebook How to Write a Novel in One (Not-so-easy) Lesson. Please visit her website, www.jacquelinediamond.com, and follow her on Twitter @jacquediamond.

The Saga of the Family Mackenzie

My current release, THE DUKE’S PERFECT WIFE, is the fourth book in the Mackenzies series, which features (thus far), four brothers who are very close (so close they drive each other crazy). DUKE’s is Hart’s story (the oldest brother)

I’m thrilled that the book hit the USA Today and New York Times list its first week out. I keep saying that the arrogant Hart would think this appropriate. No one has laughed so far, but that’s OK; Hart and I enjoy the joke.

I’m often asked about my inspiration for this series:

The family Mackenzie just walked into my head. I remember sitting on the sofa staring out at my backyard, and seeing these guys in kilts tearing up Victorian London. The Mackenzies are bad, bad boys, decadent, in every scandal sheet--and they don't care.

I always pictured four: Hart, the leader; Cameron, the dangerous; Mac, the charmer; and Ian, the “mad” man.

I couldn’t get these brothers out of my head. They stayed with me, waking and sleeping. I reasoned that if I couldn't stop thinking about them, maybe readers wouldn’t' be able to either.

Coming up with the heroines was much harder. Isabella was always there--the woman who loved the Mackenzies but marriage to Mac nearly drove her insane. Eleanor was always there too--things didn't work out for her and Hart at first, but she's always loved him, and she is the only person to whom Hart has ever been able to open up.

Beth and Ainsley, on the other hand . . . It took me forever to find them! I wrote four different heroines for Ian, before he told me that Beth was the right one; and two for Cameron, before I settled on Ainsley (Cameron made me figure that one out by myself—he just snarls).

I’m also asked about what disorder Ian Mackenzie (the youngest brother from THE MADNESS OF LORD IAN MACKENZIE). Ian has Asperger’s Syndrome, which is considered high-functioning autism.

I always knew, as soon as the Mackenzies took over my life, that Ian was "mad," or at least different from his brothers. I realized after watching him a while that he had Asperger's. I then did a lot of research on Asperger's, talking to people with it, or who had children with it, and reading many books, blogs, and articles about it.

I incorporated much that I learned about AS into Ian's characteristics. I wanted to explore how those in the Victorian world would react to Ian, when AS and autism weren't yet recognized. Ian turned into a wonderful character that many people love.

In Ian’s story, Hart, the oldest brother, clashes with Ian and his heroine, mostly because Hart worries about Ian. Hart appointed himself long ago as the person who keeps Ian safe.

In THE DUKE’S PERFECT WIFE, Hart comes to terms with his relationship with Ian—everything that he’s done for Ian, and everything Ian has done for him. The book is as much about Hart and Ian as Hart and Eleanor.

Hart had picked out Eleanor to be his perfect bride when he was young and ambitious—she had the right connections, the right social background, and so forth. He wooed and won her. Eleanor fell in love with the young and wild Hart, but he never admitted to himself his feelings for her. She broke it off with him, and he, young, arrogant, and angry, pretended to the world that he didn’t care (later marrying another young woman with the right connections and social background).

Now, years later, Hart again needs the perfect wife to stand at his side while he rules the country. He decides to draw Eleanor, still unwed, back into his life.

Eleanor, however, isn’t (and never was), a biddable, obedient young woman. Hart has his hands full with her, her absent-minded father, his own brothers and children, and danger to himself and his family.

Much is revealed in this book about Hart and why he’s done what he’s done over the years. It’s as much a family saga as a romance between Eleanor and Hart.

I’m also asked—What’s coming up next? Is this the end of the Mackenzies?

I reply: NO! There will be more.

The next book in the series is THE SEDUCTION OF ELLIOT MCBRIDE. Elliot is the brother of Ainsley from The Many Sins of Lord Cameron. Elliot has had a rough time of it--he was a wild young man who went to Afghanistan and India, and found a way to make money at being a wild adventurer. He was captured and imprisoned for a long time, and he's back in Scotland trying to recover.

Elliot discovers on his return that the girl he had a crush on as a boy is now getting married. He arrives at the church in time to see her left at the altar, and she, distraught, asks him for a big favor . . .

I call Elliot "The Untamed McBride". He is definitely a sexy, tortured hero. He battles the PTSD-like problems at the same time he tries to figure out how to be a proper Scottish laird. Juliana, his heroine, is never sure from day to day what's going to happen!

But Elliot's very hot and loves running around in his kilt (only).

Daniel Mackenzie, the son of Cameron, will have his story told in THE WICKED DEEDS OF DANIEL MACKENZIE. Motherless Daniel was raised alone by his father Cameron and three Mackenzie uncles, so he’s as decadent as they are. I fast forward ten years so he’ll be about twenty-eight in his book, and find the woman of his dreams.

There you have it! The Mackenzie saga. I hope everyone enjoys it. My website has a special section for the Mackenzies, including excerpts, character bios, and family trees. (See http://www.jennifersromances.com and click “Mackenzies” from the right-hand menu.)

Do you enjoy reading historical romances?  If so, what do you love most about them?  One commenter will win a signed hardback copy (Rhapsody edition) of The Duke's Perfect Wife!  

Jennifer


***Jennifer's winner is Maureen! Maureen, please email me at totebag@authorsoundrelations.com with your mailing info.  Thank you!***

My Hero Nora Roberts by Debra Mullins

I read today that Nora Roberts is releasing her 200^th novel this month. I’ve been reading her all my life, and I actually own original copies of her books, including the first one, Irish Thoroughbred. She is truly one of my all-time favorite authors, both as Nora and as her alter ego J.D. Robb.

While she’s known for her wonderful contemporary romances and gritty Eve Dallas murder mysteries, did you know she also wrote two historicals? One is Rebellion, Harlequin Historical #4, which is a story about the MacGregors. And the other is Harlequin Historical #21, Lawless, a Western historical.

Lawless was a first published in May 1989, and for me it has set a standard for Western historicals. When I closed the book, I truly felt as if it had all the elements to make the perfect Western: a half-Apache gunslinging hero, a spunky heroine from back east who proves her mettle as she tries to learn about the late father she never knew, Indian attacks, a mean-spirited madam, a gold mine, the works.

To add to the fun, Nora Roberts referenced Lawless in a couple of her other books. In Loving Jack (Silhouette Special Edition #499), the heroine Jack (short for Jacqueline) is housesitting while writing the novel that is Lawless. In The Last Honest Woman (Silhouette Special Edition #451), the first of the O’Hurley series, Abby’s children mention how much they enjoy one of their Aunt Chantel’s early movies—Lawless.

Another tidbit of trivia about The Last Honest Woman—Nora Roberts herself posed for the cover!

Every time I sit down to write a book, I try to create something special, like Nora has. Every writer I know wants to be as prolific as Nora Roberts. Imagine—two hundred books in just over thirty years, and every single one of them is good. She is truly a master storyteller, and I can’t wait to see what she does next.

One thing Nora does well is connected books about families. I’ve followed in her footsteps with my Calhoun sisters series: Donovan’s Bed and The Lawman’s Surrender.  Both these Western historicals have recently been re-released in digital format from Samhain Retro Romance. Donovan’s Bed, nominated for a RITA award back in its day, came out in February and tells the story of Sarah Calhoun and Jack Donovan. The Lawman’s Surrender follows this month with the adventures of Susannah Calhoun and U.S. Marshal Jedidiah Brown.

When Susannah is arrested for the murder of the brother of  a U.S. Senator, the congressman demands she be transferred to Denver to stand trial. A U.S. Marshal is summoned to escort her. That marshal is Jedidiah Brown, a man with whom she once shared a flirtation and a kiss before Jedidiah left town without a word. She never forgave him, and he never forgot her. But now he’s her only chance to escape the lynch mob pursuing her in their race to find the witness who can prove her innocence before time runs out and she has to face the judge in Denver. You can check out an excerpt at http://store.samhainpublishing.com/lawmans-surrender-p-6774.html.

Are you a fan of Nora Roberts? What is your favorite Nora or J.D. Robb book? One commenter will win a copy of The Lawman’s Surrender (ebook or paperback).


***Debra's winner is Leni! Leni, please email me at totebag@authorsoundrelations.com with your mailing info.  Thank you!***

Oven Lovin'

by Anna Campbell

Are you a baker?

I am!

Even more, I'm a carnivore from way back. I grew up in a farming family and farming families tend to go heavy on the protein because of all the hard physical work involved in running the property. And meat loves being roasted in an oven. All that dripping, roasty goodness? YUM!

As a consequence, I've always made great use of the ovens in the houses I've lived in. I've seen rental properties where it's clear nobody has ever touched the oven since it was installed. That would not be moi!

Nothing beats a roast chicken or a leg of lamb. And what says 'home' more loudly (or more fragrantly) than a casserole? And I love to bake treats as well. Especially biscuits and desserts. For some reason, I've never had great luck with cakes. I find doing a big tray of deliciousness in the oven is a great stress-beater and it gives you pretty instant gratification unlike other activities like, you know, WRITING! Not only that, baking makes you popular when you share the goodness around.

So you can imagine my horror six months ago, when in the middle of baking a chicken for my birthday dinner, my oven died. Picture shrieking and tearing of hair and running around like a loon! It wasn't pretty! But then nor was half-raw chicken, sadly.

A couple of weeks ago, some lovely men with hammers and screwdrivers installed a brand-new oven in my kitchen. It turns out ovens have changed size in the 20 years since the last one went in so there was cabinetry involved as well as electrical know-how. But I am now the proud possessor of a lovely oven and a half. Watch out, neighbors! You are about to be barraged with biscuits (or cookies for my American friends).

And, Oven, welcome to my house. I promise to love and care and treat you with respect... Ah, who am I kidding? I'm going to work this baby into the ground. Now where's that potato peeler? I can feel a roasty coming on!

So are you a carnivore? A baking fiend? Just a fiend, perhaps? What's your favorite thing to cook? Where do you do most of your cooking?

Call it coincidence – by Kandy Shepherd

Coincidence? Wish fulfillment? Who knows—but fictional incidents I create for my novels have a habit of actually happening in my own life!

DREAM HOUSE COME TRUE

In my contemporary romance, Something About Joe, my heroine Allison Bradley lives in a charming little terrace house (row house) in McMahons Point, a harborside suburb of Sydney, Australia, ten minutes from the city center where she works.

At the time I wrote the story, I lived in an outer suburb, considerably more than ten minutes from where I worked. In fact, to get into the city for my “day job”, I had to get up at the crack of dawn (I’m an “owl” and loathe getting up early) and dress my daughter while she was still asleep to get her to daycare and me to the office on time.

I wove my yearning for a closer-to-town home into the story, living it vicariously through the house I created for Allison. Who would have imagined some years later we would find a decrepit, uninhabitable little house in McMahons Point, spend several years renovating it, and move in.

A house something like the one I created for Allison in SOMETHING ABOUT JOE

Yes, it was every bit as convenient to live there for me as it was for Alison.

No, a hot handsome hunk of a babysitter like my hero Joe Martin never came knocking on my door!

(If there are any more dream houses going to come true for me, there’s the most perfect house in Sausalito, California, I created for my hero in Home Is Where the Bark Is… )

HARBORSIDE PLAYGROUND

In Something About Joe, two pivotal scenes take place in a small harborside park in McMahon’s Point. There’s a park bench there and in my mind’s eye, I can see my fictional characters Joe and Allison sitting there together.

The view of Sydney Harbour Joe and Allison see from the park

Long after the book was written I found myself spending happy hours right near that bench teaching my daughter to jump rope (or skipping rope as it’s called in Australia) with magnificent Sydney Harbour as our backdrop and backyard substitute. I could never have imagined that! 

MORE NIGHTMARE THAN DREAM

Spoiler alert! There’s a scene in Something About Joe where Allison’s eighteen-month old son Mitchell suffers a febrile convulsion and ends up in the emergency room at the local hospital.

I thoroughly researched the symptoms and the hospital procedure. Lucky I did, because several years after writing the scene with Mitchell, a high fever triggered a terrifying series of convulsions in my daughter (long after the age my research told me was usual) and I knew exactly what to do. I also got all the details of what happens at the hospital right, though to tell you the truth I wasn't thinking about my story when I was there with my daughter! (She was fine, with no after effects at all, thank heaven.)

No febrile convulsions for this happy baby!

Has anything quite unexpectedly come true for you? Something you dreamed about, longed for, read in a book or saw in a movie, heard about from someone else?

Leave a comment to win a free download of my new e-book Something About Joe. Be sure to include your email address.

Something About Joe is available for just $0.99c at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Smashwords and other e-retailers.

Kandy Shepherd writes fun, feel-good fiction.
www.kandyshepherd.com

Sydney Harbour Bridge photo © Deb22 http://www.stockfreeimages.com

Baby photo © Melkinghttp://www.stockfreeimages.com

It's Easter Monday 'DownUnder' which is a public holiday. Many people get five days off over Easter..that's a big break and the retailers know it. For a month before Easter the junk mail is FULL of camping equipment sales and DIY sales. In the past we've done both of those things. We've often painted bedrooms, completed a big garden project. We've also gone camping. This year we took a road trip to visit my cousins in South Australia...the state next door. 

We also used it as an opportunity to visit Adelaide University. My eldest son will be off to uni/college next year and he's keeping his options open and we've been visiting quite a few places! It was also a chance for him to get more kilometres/miles under his belt driving because where we live he has to have driven 120 hours before he can sit his driver's test.


It was great catching up with family and seeing the cousins playing together.  I was able to share my exciting news with them and I want to share it here with you too!  Two weeks ago, I woke up to hear my iPad going ping, ping, ping. I stumbled out into the kitchen and read, 'Congratulations on your #Rita12 nomination.' My heart almost stopped and I automatically looked toward the phone to see if the message bank was blinking. Had I missed a phone call in the middle of the night telling me this news? 

Somehow I managed to get my fingers to work and I found the RWA list and yes, there under Single Title Contemporary Romance was my name and next to it was Boomerang Bride. I rang Angela James, the Chief Executive Editor of Carina Press and she told me I was the first Carina Press author to be nominated for a RITA^®  SQUEE!! For those of you who don't know about the RITA^®,  it is the Romance Writers of Amercia's award for published authors. My peers had read this book and deemed it worthy of being nominated.


This is a really special nomination for so many reasons, including the fact this book took a long time to find a home. It shares my love tor Australia and my love for the USA. It combines all the wonderful things about small towns in both countries and I just loved writing it. To read more about it including the song that inspired it, click here.

To celebrate my nomination, I'd love to give away an eBook version of Boomerang Bride.  To be in with a chance to win, tell me how you celebrated Easter this year. Remember to leave your email address in the comment in case you win!  

If you'd like to buy your own copy of Boomerang Bride it is available as a physical book and and an eBook

Fiona Lowe is an award-winning, multi-published author with Harlequinand Carina Press. Whether her books are set in outback Australia or in the mid-west of the USA, they feature small towns with big hearts, and warm, likeable characters that make you fall in love. When she's not writing stories, she's a weekend wife, mother of two 'ginger' teenage boys, guardian of 80 rose bushes and often found collapsed on the couch. A current RT Book Reviwers' Choice Award nominee, you  can find her at her website, facebook, Twitter and Goodreads.

Boomerang Bride is available now from Carina Press,Amazon Kindle, Nook and all other online book stores

Spring has sprung! :: Anne McAllister

I live in the upper midwest where winter is a well-known phenomenon.  Some years it actually seems as if our four season are Winter and June, July and August. 

I like snow as much as the next person, but some years even I say, “Enough!”

Not this year. This winter I often found myself looking out at the white stuff and saying, “Is this all there is?”

Mind you, I was NOT complaining. I was merely voicing the same incredulity that almost every one of my neighbors was expression as well.  We had winter – of sorts. But we had absolutely nothing to complain about. It got down to zero a handful of days. Never more than two at a stretch (two is NOT a stretch, believe me).  And it snowed. Now and then.  Periodically.

So, yes, there was winter. But really, a perfect winter. Just ask all of us – minus the people whose income depends on ski resort earnings.  We were happy as clams.  Happier even.

And then, round about the first of March, came spring.

Color us amazed.  Surely it won’t stick around, we said when the temps hit 60.  Surely we’re imagining things we said when the temps hit 70 two or three days in a row.  Is the thermometer broken? we asked when one day mid-March it hit 83.

These are unusual temperatures for Iowa, Wisconsin and Minnesota.  But not unheard of. Except for the fact that they seemed to stick around. It didn’t get below freezing for weeks. 

My husband actually had to break down and MOW THE LAWN – three (count ‘em. He did.) times in March alone. And once so far in April.

But we’re not complaining. 

Not just because it was a relatively short, relatively mild, relatively free-of-feet-of-snow winter. But because it is the most beautiful spring I’ve ever seen.

The scilla came up through the grass mid-March. The daffodils were blooming right on their heels.  The tulips are everywhere. The lilacs are gorgeous, as are the red bud trees and the flowering crabapples and the Jonathan and Beacon apple trees in our yard.  The whole town looks like an ad for a seed catalogue.  Mind-boggling.

Is it global-warming?  I hope not.  Is it the rare and beautiful spring that we so often don’t get because of fickle weather patterns?  A happier thought.

All I know is, I’m glad I got my book finished so I can go out and bask in the sunshine, walk the dogs and pretend that it’s going to last and last and last. 

I love it.

My mother, fiercely determinedly loyal Californian that she was – and who lived for nine years of her life in Iowa with her teeth clenched -- would have said, “If you LOVE IT SO MUCH, why don’t you move back to California where it’s like this all the time?”

To which I can only answer, “Mom, it’s wonderful because it’s unexpected and unlikely and more than we deserve. And you never really appreciated California until you lived in Iowa, either, did you?”

What’s the weather like where you are?  Making you happy?  Hope so!

Anne’s current book, Savas’s Wildcat, a Harlequin Presents Extra, is out this month. 

Savas’s Wildcat is set on Balboa Island in California in March, where it rained throughout most of the book. Well, not every day, but a lot.

Just saying . . .

Full Circle? - Marie Treanor

Lee, many thanks for inviting me to blog here again!

So, does anyone remember the publishing world just a few years ago? The days when e-book publishers were sneered at, and self-publishing carried a huge stigma?

I do. I remember rejecting out of hand my husband’s idea that I should self-publish and I didn’t even know what an e-book was! That was only about eight years ago. But I did investigate e-books and – wow!  The sheer breadth of imagination there took my breath away, and I had to have a go myself. I wrote and sold several romances to various e-publishers, mostly paranormals with a touch of futuristic, fantasy, suspense, humour - wherever my imagination took me, and it was fun!

Then in 2009 I was approached by a distinguished literary agent, who speedily got me a three book deal with New York publishers NAL. I couldn’t believe my luck. It was like a vindication. Those three books were the Awakened by Blood vampire romance trilogy: Blood on Silk, Blood Sin and Blood Eternal, and I was thrilled to see them out there. I still am!

And yet what’s my next big project? Returning not only to the world of e-books but to the once-rejected idea of self-publishing!

Nowadays, of course, you see well-established and highly successful authors taking the self-publishing route, and e-books have grown enormously in popularity from the days I first heard of them. So, over the next year or so, with my agent’s support, I have two, if not three series I plan to release in this way – the first, Blood Hunters, is a sequel series to Awakened by Blood and the first book, Blood Guilt should be out next month. For the rest, I just did what e-books always encouraged me to do – followed by imagination.

So have I come full-circle? Sort of, I suppose, but the circle keeps expanding as the publishing world changes out of all recognition. To me, my new ventures seem bright and new and exciting and I can’t wait to see where they take me!

What about you? As readers, do you prefer e-books or print books? Or like me do you read a mix? Are you as happy to read a self-published work as any other, providing the author and the story appeal? 

Let me know and I’ll put your name in the hat to win a download of any of my currently available e-books (except the Awakened by Blood trilogy which unfortunately I can’t get hold of in e-formats!). You can check them out on my website, www.MarieTreanor.com. Good luck!


***Marie's winner is Debby! Debby, please email me at totebag@authorsoundrelations.com with your mailing info.  Thank you!***

The Times, They Are A-Changin’

Before I landed a great NY agent, and a book deal, and published books, and fans, and all that comes along with all of the aforementioned, I never used to watch television. I didn’t watch TV because I didn’t have time. I worked full time, was a wife and mother, and used all my spare time (ALL my spare time) writing.

These days, I’m still a wife and mother, but I now write full time. What that means is that I actually have a modicum of spare time. (Not much, but some, and hey, some is better than none, right?) My husband and I both work from home (which is awesome, I must say), and in addition to our daughter, we also have three dogs (aka The Canine Death Squad) and three cats (aka The Killer Kitties). The pets are really USED to having both Mommy and Daddy at home. Meaning that when my husband’s done working and I’m taking a break between my afternoon writing and my nighttime writing, we tend to stay at home. Because the pets are lonely without us. (Or so they tell us and we tell ourselves.) So nowadays, we actually watch some TV.

As anyone who’s known me for about 5 minutes is already aware, I’m a huge fan of “Castle”. I’m also a big fan of “Dancing with the Stars” and now “The Voice”. Believe me, DWTS and The Voice being on at the same time is really giving the DVR a workout. But I digress…

I bring all this up because a couple of seasons ago (the Kirstie Alley season), one of the stars on DWTS -- upon learning that they were going to have to learn two new dances and then do a bonus round, in one week -- said to her professional dance partner, “They just never let you get comfortable, do they?”

It’s true, and part of what makes DWTS so fun to watch, but it’s also true in real life. Lo these many years ago now, I got a wonderful job that required one big thing -- move my family from Los Angeles, California to Phoenix, Arizona. It was a change we were a little worried about, and we didn’t want to leave California, our friends, or, worst of all, our family. But it was the best thing in the world for us, and for me in particular, as I wouldn’t have started writing if we hadn’t moved here.

This also holds true in terms of writing a series. If you want to keep things fresh, fun, and interesting, you can’t let your characters get comfortable.

I write the Alien/Katherine “Kitty” Katt series for DAW Books/Penguin. When it all started (Touched by an Alien), Kitty discovered that the Roswell rumors were true, but with a twist -- the aliens were here to help us, and as a side benefit, they were all gorgeous. As the series continued, Kitty got further into Centaurion Division and discovered that there was a lot of bad out there, both internal (Alien Tango) and very external (Alien in the Family). She also got engaged, and then married. Then the ultimate life change a person can go through happened (Alien Proliferation).

But, for me, that wasn’t enough. Sure, I’d taken Kitty’s life and turned it upside down. She’s gone from marketing manager to superbeing exterminator to the Head of Airborne for Centaurion Division. She’s gotten engaged, married, and given birth. That’s a lot of change.

The changes have been fun, and Kitty’s been up for every one of them. So, I had to ask myself -- what would Kitty and Company do if they were faced with a change that sounds great, but puts each and every character out of their comfort zone? What about a change none of them really want, but know they have to accept?

In my newest release, Alien Diplomacy, which hit the shelves this past Tuesday, April 3, Kitty’s no longer the Head of Airborne and killing superbeings for a living. She’s now part of the Diplomatic Mission for American Centaurion, representing an entire race that’s hiding in plain sight. Kitty and her alien husband, Jeff Martini, no longer live in Arizona and New Mexico, but have had to relocate to Washington, D.C. Even worse, Kitty and Jeff, can no longer do what they both enjoy -- kicking evil bad guy butt -- because they’re public figures.

Not that this will stop the bad guys from scheming, or Kitty from doing her best to save the day with hairspray and rock ‘n’ roll. But now she’s got to do it diplomatically.

Well, as diplomatically as she can. Which, since it’s Kitty, probably isn’t going to win her any Decorum Awards. But, hey, that’s part of her charm, and that I refuse to change.

Being newlyweds and new parents is challenging enough. But nothing’s ever easy for Jeff and Kitty Katt-Martini, particularly not when they have to switch from being superbeing exterminators and Commanders in Centaurion Division to mastering the political landscape as the new heads of American Centaurion’s Diplomatic Corps.

Kitty’s brand of diplomacy and lobbying isn’t quite as smooth as Jeff’s—Washington parties, lobbyists of all stripes, and politicians from all states and countries present challenges a well-stocked iPod and quirky sense of humor aren’t always up to handling. But when a shadowy assassination plot and a new set of anti-alien conspirators are identified, Kitty’s the diplomat for the job—in between “Mommy and Me,” “Diplomacy for Beginners,” and the dreaded “Washington Wife” classes.

As explosions, assassination attempts, and murders pile up, the question shifts from “who’s the target” to “will we all survive to see next week”?

    

Armed with only their wits, and dressed to kill, it’s up to Kitty and the Diplomatic Corps to stop the bad guys from unleashing mayhem on all the world’s leaders. But will Kitty trust the right people, at the right times, or will going her own way prove deadly—not just to her, but to her daughter, Jamie?

So, what’s been the biggest change you DIDN’T want to have happen that turned out to be the best thing in the world for you?

One commenter will receive a copy of their choice of any of the first three books in the series (Touched by an Alien, Alien Tango, or Alien in the Family), signed and personalized. Open internationally. Contest is open through Friday, April 13, 2012.

Gini Koch lives in Hell’s Orientation Area (aka Phoenix, AZ), works her butt off (sadly, not literally) by day, and writes by night with the rest of the beautiful people. She writes the fast, fresh and funny Alien/Katherine “Kitty” Katt series for DAW Books and the Martian Alliance Chronicles series for Musa Publishing. She also writes under a variety of pen names (including G.J. Koch, Anita Ensal, Jemma Chase, A.E. Stanton, and J.C. Koch), listens to rock music 24/7, and is a proud comics geek-girl willing to discuss at any time why Wolverine is the best superhero ever (even if Deadpool does get all the best lines). She speaks frequently on what it takes to become a successful author and other aspects of writing and the publishing business. She can be reached through her website at www.ginikoch.com.

***Gini's winner is Lil! Lil, please email me at totebag@authorsoundrelations.com with your mailing info.  Thank you!***