The Idea Boutique

Real Vampires Get Lucky by Gerry Bartlett

2008-06-16T15:19:00.000-04:00

When I was looking for ideas for the third book, Real Vampires Get Lucky, in the Glory St. Clair vampire series, I wanted to put her in a really bad situation, so bad that it would take the rest of the book for Glory to work her way out of the jam. Hopefully, this would hook the reader and get her to read on. So I dumped a seriously wounded mortal in Glory’s path and gave her a choice: let someone die or turn him or her vampire.

Glory had always sworn never to make a new vampire because she’s had her own regrets about taking on a pair of fangs. For one thing, she would have lost those ten pounds that have been riding on her hips all these years before she’d let her vampire lover turn her. For another she’d never had a chance to sample chocolate truffles. Enough said. Now, although she’s been a vampire for over four hundred years, Glory doesn’t have a clue about how to turn someone vampire. So here she is, in the alley behind her vintage clothing shop staring at this person who is one breath away from death. This alley is significant because bad things always seem to happen here. At least they did in book one(Real Vampires Have Curves) and two(Real Vampires Live Large) of the series. That’s important because when you’re writing a series, you’re juggling not only a continuing cast of characters, but their memories and the settings they’ve lived in.

Back to that mortal bleeding out. Glory’s stuck. She’s got to turn this person vampire. And Gerry, the writer, has to decide whether it’s going to be a hot guy or a woman. Hmm. Hot guy is competition for the love of Glory’s life. Interesting, but not what I need right now. So it’s a woman lying there. And to motivate Glory further, this woman has an expensive handbag and great boots. Her Gucci wallet is lying a few feet away and Glory’s shape-shifting bodyguard Valdez has a laugh when he reads the name on the driver’s license: Lucky Carver(See where I got my title?). A phone call to Glory’s boyfriend finally gets Glory the information she needs to make Lucky into a vampire. Well, that problem’s solved. But of course there are lots more problems ahead for Glory and a woman who turns out to be a loan shark for paranormals.

Loan shark? Where did that come from? I needed a reason for Lucky to be in an alley in Austin, Texas at two in the morning. Authors are constantly working on a character’s motivation, goals, conflict. Fancy words that mean “Does this make sense?” Lucky was used to collecting debts at night in strange places, but this time that habit almost got her killed. When Glory takes her upstairs and begins her vampire training, our heroine is stuck with a woman who doesn’t know the meaning of “low profile” and who has a very unhappy would-be killer still after her.

Since this is also a romance, I gave Lucky an ex-boyfriend whom she hates. Lucky’s idea of revenge is to turn the rock star into a vampire. Then she dumps him on Glory so our heroine can mentor him. Hmm. Imagine waking up with a naked rock star in your bed. And not just any rocker, but one whose music lights your personal fire. Now Glory’s longtime boyfriend finally has some serious competition. And Glory’s life gets really complicated.

Okay, now you’ve got the set-up for Real Vampires Get Lucky: There’s slightly chubby and always independent vampire, Gloriana St. Clair; her hunky Scottish lover, vampire Jeremy Blade; newly made vampire, Lucky and a hot rock star to resist. Sprinkle in all the continuing characters that readers of the series expect to see like Glory’s best friends and her bodyguard/dog Valdez. Oh, and don’t forget the usual suspects like vampire hunters. See why writing a series is such a challenge?

You can read an excerpt from Real Vampires Get Lucky at gerrybartlett.com. It hit bookstores June 3. Also, come visit Glory’s blog at myspace.com/gerrybartlett.

Hope to see you there!
Gerry Bartlett

Cindy Miles

2008-06-04T10:52:00.000-04:00

First off, thank you Heather, for having me here today! Now, Everyone--close your eyes and imagine....

What if.....

You happened to travel to the Highlands of Scotland? The air is cool and tinged with the sweet, sharp scent of clover, the moors loll and heather sits in big clumps and turns the entire side of hill lavender. White fluffy sheep dot the land, and rising from beside a dark loch is a formidable stone tower. Imagine if you were able to stay in that tower as a guest...and encountered not one but five big warriors from another century living in a supposed haunted towerhouse? That's exactly what Amelia Landry experiences when her best friend and assistant leases her the dark tower for the summer. You see, Amelia has had a serious case of Brain Fade and has three months left to write and turn in her next novel. But her writer's mojo has disappeared and she's been struggling. Hoping to gain inspiration from the creepy, haunted tower, she packs up and leaves Charleston, SC and makes for the Highlands. A big fan of Bram Stoker, Amelia's imagination takes flight as soon as she steps foot into the dark, stone, fourtheenth century keep. But she also encounters a dead-sexy laird wrapped in plaid--along with his kinsmen.

Centuries before, Ethan Munro's bride was found dead--and Ethan, whose dark reputation follows him everywhere--was blamed. After a battle between his bride's kin, a thick mist envelopes Ethan and his brethren and for centuries, they exist on a plane where for one hour a day, they solidify. Neither dead nor alive, they have long awaited for help from SOMEONE. When Amelia shows up, with her nearly fearless self, Ethan gets way more than he bargains for...

Having had the pleasure of visiting Scotland's lush Highlands a few times, the setting for Highland Knight popped right out at me. Every time I visit a crumbling castle ruin, or traipse through the wood, I can imagine the big, fierce warriors and their kin, swords drawn, curses spewing. It's a magical place alive with history, and I love reading and writing about it. I hope you do, as well!

Enjoy!

Cindy

THE ART OF DESIRE by CHERIE FEATHER

2008-06-03T16:37:00.001-04:00

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. So I created a contemporary story with a historical twist. 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. It’s truly a book of my heart.

If you’re curious about the RT review, this is what it says:

“This story has it all--hot and varied sex scenes, a hunky hero to die for, a tough-yet-insecure heroine to identify with and a diary that links the characters to a tragic Old West love affair from a hundred years ago. The happy-ever-after ending is icing on the cake! Feather is an excellent writer who knows which details will evoke just the right emotion.” Romantic Times, 4 ½ stars, Top Pick!

Who wouldn’t be happy about that review? Lol. If you want to know more about the plot, 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 you’d like to see the book trailer, click here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ls0rwEM29iY&eurl=file://C:%5CA_Websites%5CSheriWhitefeather%5CTMPy9xpmttouo.htm

If you’d like to read an excerpt, click here: http://goodbadandunread.com/2008/04/26/book-alert-the-art-of-desire-by-cherie-feather/

For news, contests and to read my blog, you can visits my websites at: http://www.cheriefeather.com/ and http://www.sheriwhitefeather.com/

Hugs and Happy Reading!

Cherie

Donna MacMeans

2008-06-02T12:10:00.002-04:00

Invisibility can be most revealing.

I remember precisely when I discovered the idea for THE TROUBLE WITH MOONLIGHT. It was the summer of 2006. My husband and I decided to go to the movies and chose My Super Ex-girlfriend (crummy movie, but great scene of the super girlfriend tossing a shark at her boyfriend through a skyscraper window.) I was casting about, looking for a fresh idea and thought – superpowers are hot. Look at the popular TV series – Heroes. Other recent movies: Fantastic Four, Spiderman. Perhaps I could do something with a superhero story.

I had just finished my Victorian novel, The Education of Mrs. Brimley, and had fallen in love with the time period. I figured there aren’t many superheroes in historical settings, other than vampires, so this might be good. Plus I wouldn’t be wasting all that research I did for Mrs. Brimley. So I had my setting – late Victorian England.

Now I needed a power. I thought about flying, but that would be difficult with all those skirts and whatnot. If faced with imminent death or flying, would a proper Victorian woman choose the latter if it meant someone could see up her skirt? Sorry, Mary Poppins, I don’t think so. So flying was out. I considered other powers. One of my favorites is invisibility. Remember how Harry Potter had a cloak of Invisibility – so did Frodo didn’t he? It’s a cool talent – and visual (so to speak J). I could already see the opening scene in my mind. Things floating on air with no obvious explanation.

I don’t know about you, but I hate it when the hero can turn his power on and off like a light bulb. I decided pretty early that I wanted this power to play havoc with my heroine, cause her lots of worry and anxiety about her ability to control it. And she had to be visible sometimes – I mean the hero has to be able to find her. My daughter and I talked it over as we waited at the airport for her plane to Chicago. What normal occurrence could we use that would have been available in Victorian times and would play havoc with my heroine – the moon!

We discussed the problem of clothes. That Susan chick from the Fantastic Four had her genius boyfriend come up with some clothes that could turn invisible. My poor Victorians couldn’t have had that technology. Then I remembered the headless horseman. Do you remember him? He’s really what sealed the deal. I decided he must have been of the same race of people as my heroine (nuclear accidents also were out). He rode his horse in Moonlight and his body turned invisible, giving the illusion that he was headless. Perfect.

Now all I needed was a reason to force my heroine out of her house when the moon was full, and a hero who would fall privy to her secret. The book was born.

In the midst of a moonlit safe-cracking mission, British spy James Locke witnesses a ruby necklace spirited away as if by conjurer’s trick. Following the jewels leads him to Lusinda Havershaw who’s inherited the talent of turning invisible in moonlight – at lest, the parts of her that are unclothed. Locke trains Lusinda in espionage, even while he finds her close proximity bewitchingly distracting. And as their mission to track Russian spies grows treacherous, they’ll find that the heart behaves even more mysteriously than Lusinda in moonlight.

The Trouble with Moonlight will be available June 3rd. ISBN: 978-0-425-22198-3
Read an excerpt at http://www.donnamacmeans.com/

Donna

Ghost Moon by Rebecca York

2008-05-11T11:24:00.001-04:00

GHOST MOON is the seventh book in a werewolf series I never planned.

When I wrote my first Moon book, KILLING MOON, I simply wanted to write a werewolf story, and I thought of the idea of a werewolf detective who uses his wolf senses to solve crimes. Then Berkley asked me for more werewolf books–and I was off and running.

By the time I got to the third book, I realized I needed to add another major theme that would expand the series. So I began writing about heroines who had psychic powers.

I used that in several books. Still, I felt that I needed a bigger canvas, so I introduced an alternate universe, parallel to our own. Only something happened there so that a lot of people suddenly acquired psychic powers, completely disrupting civilization. I’ve had characters from that world come into this one. And I’ve had characters from our world go there.

In GHOST MOON, I’m using that new setting to its full advantage, but I’m also looking for traits that will make each of my werewolf heroes unique and will create conflict between the hero and the heroine. Which is how I came up with the basic idea for the story. Caleb Marshall is the ghost of a werewolf killed 75 years ago by his cousin. And he wants to avenge his own death–which puts him in conflict with the Marshall werewolves my readers know and, hopefully, love. The heroine, Quinn, who comes from my alternate universe, is friends with the Marshalls, so she’s immediately afraid that Caleb will go after them. With my usual twisted glee, I set up a situation where she and Caleb are forced to work with them to defeat a terrorist plot.

As I planned the book, I didn’t want to back myself into a corner with a ghost hero. So I needed a way for Caleb to acquire a body. That’s part of the terrorist plot. But I don’t want to give away any more of the story by telling you more about it. Except to say that I had one more horrible idea. What if the body Caleb acquired couldn’t change to wolf form? What would that do to him?

Rebecca York

There's a Storm on the way in GONE WITH THE WITCH, May 6, 2008

2008-05-06T12:29:00.000-04:00

“Psychic witches with attitude SPELL identical-triplet trouble in spikes!”
In a nutshell this is the story of my Triplet Witch Trilogy:

SEX AND THE PSYCHIC WITCH, Harmony’s story, in stores now.
GONE WITH THE WITCH, Storm’s story, due in stores TODAY!
NEVER BEEN WITCHED, coming in February, 2009.

But Today’s blog is about Storm, the Goth rebel with attitude. Storm Cartwright grew up knowing she was the straw that broke the camel's back, that it was her arrival that sent their mother running from the hospital before their father ever came to pick them upl.

Each of the triplets has a psychic gift. Harmony sees the past. Destiny sees the future, but Storm sees the present. What good is that? Everybody sees the present, don't they?

Storm thinks so until Aiden McCloud arrives on the scene:

In his presence she hears a baby crying. Abducting him is the only way to follow the sound and find the child. Her scheme includes his luxury motor coach, seduction . . . and four pairs of fuzzy purple handcuffs.

Neither Aiden nor Storm knows who they really are and it takes a wacky road trip and discoveries of all sorts, including secrets, secrets, secrets, for Storm to spot the real Aiden inside the hermit wanderer, and for Aiden to peel away Storm’s tough outer layers to find the jewel hidden deep inside.

I had a blast writing their story. I fell in love with all of them. GONE WITH THE WITCH is like nothing I've ever written, and I can't wait to hear what you think of it.

So don’t forget: handcuffs and secrets, psychics and sex, the sound of crying babies, dragons and tabloids . . . a bad boy and a bad girl, and all the trouble they can get into.

GONE WITH THE WITCH . . . on sale TODAY.

ps: It’s already hit some bestseller lists!
Click below for:
An excerpt!

The Story of the story
"OMG, what a fantastically fun story! GONE WITH THE WITCH has it all; sensuously personable characters, breath-taking romance and a story line that is amusing and totally unique. Talented Annette Blair continues her triplet witch books with Storm’s story, my favorite of the triplets. GONE WITH THE WITCH, don’t you love that title, is a stand alone book but I bet you won’t be able to resist buying just this one book by Annette Blair; she is addictive! Sultry." Sensual & Erotic Ecataromance

"A spellbinding story that totally knocked my socks off! Once again I find myself in awe over the author's ability to make the characters so memorable...will leave you with a big smile on your face. Author Annette Blair writes priceless romance adventures." Detra Fitch, Huntress Reviews

"GONE WITH THE WITCH is sensual, close to being erotic...a touching emotional tale. I’ve read all the ‘witchy’ tales from Ms. Blair...I recommend them all for your reading pleasure." Carol Carter, Romance Reviews Today

"Great fun! Wonderful characters, a riveting storyline and a sensuous undercurrent...phenomenal... Storm is a hoot! She had me rolling in laughter through the entire story. She’s wild and carefree while Aiden has his own surefire beliefs about everything. The romance that blooms between these two...will have reader’s hearts melting. The adventure Aiden and Storm embark on to find this crying baby will have you riveted to the pages... Annette Blair always has fun with her witch characters...very evident in this story. If you’ve never read her before, please do! I guarantee you’ll be a die-hard fan in no time." ~Amanda Haffery, Romance Junkies

"Annette Blair’s second contribution to her Triplet trilogy should come with oven mitts as it is hot, hot, hot. The ending is just wonderful, with fantastic characters and a strong narrative. If the reader likes her romantic comedies just shy of being classified as erotica, this is definitely the book for you! Believe me when I say, this is one road trip you do not want to miss!" Betty Cox, Reader to Reader

"An emotionally charged story...GONE WITH THE WITCH starts out as somewhat light, bawdy, entertaining fun, which is what I thoroughly enjoy in all of Ms. Blair's books. She can be hysterically outrageous, and I can count on several laugh-out-loud moments. This story tugged at the heart as I was drawn into a tale of two people who've lived on the surface of life, afraid to seek greater depth to their existence for fear of being hurt yet again. Storm and Aiden are made for one another, and their discovery of this fact makes a truly satisfying story. This book is a definite addition to my keeper shelf." Paula Myers, Fresh Fiction

"Again there is plenty of magic and spell casting, as well as lots of hot, sexy situations. There are a number of familiar characters mentioned and some charming new ones, and both main characters develop wonderfully over the course of the story." Susan Mobley, Romantic Times

"Whimsical, witty, and wonderful,
Blair's Witches are a magical bunch that are sure to enchant readers everywhere."
~Madelyn Alt, Author of HEX MARKS THE SPOT

Don’t forget: First in the trilogy: SEX AND THE PSYCHIC WITCH, available now.

HAPPY READING!
Annette
www.annetteblair.com
www.myspace.com/annetteblair

H A U N T E D

2008-05-04T11:29:00.001-04:00

Haunted Bookshop Mystery #4: The Ghost and the Femme Fatale

(Alice Kimberly)

"...That booming, masculine voice in my head was either the ghost of P. I. Jack Shepard or a delusion of my half-demented mind. Which was true? Take your pick."

Such are the words of Penelope—single mom, bookstore owner, and star of my nationally best-selling paranormal series The Haunted Bookshop Mysteries. The Ghost and the Femme Fatale is the latest release with more titles on the way in 2009 and 2010.

There were A LOT of ideas and influences behind the opening of my haunted bookshop, starting with the classic "What if" game. "What would happen," I asked myself, "if a street-hardened detective like Raymond Chandler's Philip Marlowe found himself forced to coexist with a younger version of Agatha Christie's feisty amateur sleuth Miss Marple? And what if that hard-boiled private eye was (you guessed it) a ghost?"

At the start of my series, young widow Penelope McClure moves herself and her seven-year-old son back to her little Rhode Island hometown. Using her late husband's insurance money, Pen breathes new life back into her elderly aunt Sadie's nearly dead bookshop. As she remodels the store's interior, however, Pen brings something else back to life, as well: the spirit of Jack Shepard, a private investigator from New York City who was gunned down on the premises in the 1940s.

City-hardened Jack is less than thrilled to find his spirit marooned in some kind of backwater purgatory. Spending eternity in a bookstore in the godforsaken sticks was not the sort of afterlife he'd imagined. When he encounters auburn-haired Penelope, however, he's a little less cranky (Jack always was a sucker for a redhead). Then Pen gets mixed up in murder, and she realizes that the ghost of a professional P. I. is a pretty handy haunter—even if his off-color wisecracks and arrogant attitude are a real pain in the neck.

As fans of this series can tell you, a major inspiration for me in developing these paranormal mysteries was the novel The Ghost and Mrs. Muir. (As a tribute to Mrs. Muir's late author, Josephine Leslie, who wrote under the pen name R. A. Dick, I always quote a line from her novel at the beginning of my own books.)

Published in Britain in 1945, The Ghost and Mrs. Muir became a bestseller, and it's not hard to see why. This was right after World War II, when far too many women in their prime had become instant widows. Any new widow, still haunted by the memory of her young, vital husband, would have found a great deal of comfort in Josephine Leslie's novel, which tells the story of a young widow who finds companionship with the ghost of a virile sea captain. The tale is chockfull of metaphor and meaning, too—the ghost represents everything from hidden female desires and longings to the latent power of a woman's creativity. (Captain Gregg effectively becomes Mrs. Muir's muse, dictating his adventures as she writes them into a book.)

In my own stories, there are metaphors at work, as well. Sure, my bookshop is inhabited by a real ghost, but it's also haunted by something else: the power of one woman's imagination. Is Jack a real ghost? Or is he a very helpful part of Penelope's own repressed spirit? For me, Jack Shepard is very real indeed. Like Mrs. Muir's salty Captain Gregg, Jack even has his own personal journey: The big city private eye realizes that his purgatory of an afterlife isn't so terrible after all, because he's found a worthy woman to protect and cherish.

Yes, this is a love story as much as a story of haunting and mystery. And even though it features a dead man, it's very much a story about how to live because this is a love story for me, too—the love of a sixty-year-old book and movie (a love that I will continue to have until the day I die). And that's really the very best idea behind my Haunted Bookshop series: When you find a book to love, or a fantastic fictional character that inhabits its pages, you may end up being haunted (happily) for the rest of your days.

To learn more about my Haunted Bookshop Mysteries or the Coffeehouse Mysteries that I write under the pen name Cleo Coyle, visit the Haunted Bookshop page on my virtual coffeehouse website at: http://www.coffeehousemystery.com/ I also have a message board, a newsletter, and a monthly giveaway of free coffee to my newsletter subscribers. Cheers!

Alice Kimberly

Pelham Fell Here: A P.I. Gets a Little Help from His Friends

2008-05-01T11:20:00.000-04:00

Pelham Fell Here is the first book in the P.I. Frank Johnson series (The Dirt-Brown Derby, The Blue Cheer, Troglodytes are the other titles). Pelham tells how Frank comes to decide to work as a private investigator. After Frank finds his cousin and best friend Cody Chapman murdered, he wants to get to the bottom of what happened. Easier said than done, Frank finds.

The further Frank digs into Cody’s life, the more betrayal and chaos he finds. Before long, Frank tangles with a cult of bad guys Cody knew who only understands the bloody way to settle any conflicts.

However, I quickly realized Frank couldn’t do it all as the lonewolf detective. He has to call on his friends for their assistance. Dreema Atkins who works at the Virginia Forensics lab offers her expertise on running the science on the clues Frank discovers. I wanted Frank to enjoy some romance, and Dreema fit that bill quite nicely.

Chet Peyton, fearless but young, helps Frank until reinforcements arrive on the scene to lend a hand. I knew Frank,outnumbered and outgunned, needed a loyal, impact partner to stand with him against such heavy odds. Enter Gerald, bounty hunter extraordinaire. Gerald is a force who levels the playing field for Frank to catch an even break in this murder case.

Law enforcement takes a dim view of Frank’s stirring up loud trouble and arrests him as Cody’s killer. Then I created the rich, smart, and larger-than-life defense attorney Bob Gatlin top lead Frank’s case in the courtroom. Gatlin also happens to also need a P.I. to do some investigative work for him, so Frank gains an employer as well as a lawyer in his corner.

I’m glad I gave Frank all his pals in Pelham Fell Here because it allowed me to create a more interesting mix. So, if you’d like to read a story about a P.I. with a lot of different friends, Frank’s tale in his hometown of Pelham should be just the one for you.

Ed Lynskey

Cleo Coyle’s Brewing Up Murder and Banana Muffins (Recipe Included!)

2008-04-14T21:51:00.005-04:00

My newest Coffeehouse Mystery, French Pressed, just hit every major mass market mystery bestseller list in the country: Borders, Barnes & Noble, Amazon, and Bookscan (yeah, baby!). If you haven’t yet met my heroine, Clare Cosi, single-mom, barista, and amateur sleuth, then allow me to introduce you...

Clare is the manager of the historic Village Blend coffeehouse in Greenwich Village , New York (where I live and work, too, which is how the idea for this series began). Clare’s daughter, Joy, is in culinary school nearby. Her ex-husband, Matt, is her shop’s globetrotting coffee buyer, and her love interest, Mike Quinn, is the NYPD homicide detective who craves Clare as much as her lattes. Together with a colorful group of younger baristas, Clare runs her shop and always finds herself running into mayhem and murder.

I'm a coffee geek, so I not only love to drink coffee, I love to talk about it with pros in the trade and research and sample exotic kinds from around the world. It's during my research into the coffee and culinary worlds that ideas for Coffeehouse Mystery stories often emerge. If you'd like to read more about French Pressed or the other books in my series, just go to my website, where all the books are described. In the meantime, here's the bonus muffin recipe form my latest newsletter. (FYI: All of my Coffeehouse Mysteries include recipes and coffee-making tips.)

Cleo Coyle's Banana-Walnut Muffins with Sweet Crunchy Tops

These easy-to-make muffins pair very well with my Coffee Pick of the Month: Kenya coffee. To read more about one of the world's finest coffees and the country it comes from, drop by the “virtual” coffeehouse at my website: http://www.coffeehousemystery.com/, where I discuss and give away my favorite coffee finds every month.

Makes 12 muffins

1-1/4 cups sugar
1/3 cup oil
3 bananas (well ripened)
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
2-1/4 cups flour (sifted)
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line muffin pans with paper liners. Dump into a bowl: the sugar, oil, 2 of the ripe bananas (just slice into bowl), eggs, vanilla, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Beat the assembled ingredients with an electric mixer until smooth, about two minutes. Now add the flour, baking powder, and baking soda to batter. Mix with electric mixer until batter is smooth (don't over mix). Use a large spatula or spoon to fold in chopped nuts and the final ripe banana, which should be mashed up roughly with a fork before adding.

Fill your muffin tins with batter. You can either fill them 3/4 full OR you can fill them all the way to the top (that's what I do). Note, however, that I spray the tops of my muffin pans with nonstick cooking spray. That way, when my muffins bake over the top of my pan, giving me lovely big muffin tops, they won't stick to the top of the pan. Now let the muffin batter sit in the pan, allowing flavors to penetrate while you make the sweet, crunchy topping.

Sweet Crunchy Topping

4 tablespoons butter
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
3 tablespoons flour
*1 cup Brownulated light brown sugar (I use Domino Brownulated.)

Melt in a saucepan 4 tablespoons butter (I just use salted butter because that’s what I always have on hand). Stir in cinnamon, nutmeg, chopped walnuts, flour, and Brownulated light brown sugar. The crunchy topping will be lumpy and that's fine. Spoon topping over the muffin batter in your pans (see photo). Bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 25 to 35 minutes. Ovens vary so make a note of what works for you. Bake until a knife inserted comes out clean. Enjoy!

(* NOTE: Do not substitute dark brown sugar in this recipe. The Brownulated sugar has less moisture and will give you the perfect crumbly texture, nice and light, letting the muffins rise.)

http://www.coffeehousemystery.com/
where coffee and crime are always brewing...

Sign up for my free newsletter (at my website) and you're automatically entered for my monthly free coffee drawings!

Cheers,
Cleo Coyle

Nicole Byrd Entices....

2008-04-07T08:12:00.002-04:00

Writing Enticing the Earl was both a delight and a bit sad. Sad because it’s the final book in the Applegate Sisters/Sinclair Saga, and it would be the last glimpse at some very beloved characters. These books started several years ago with Lord Gabriel Sinclair and his family feud with his brother John, the marquis of Gillingham. They weren’t meant to become a series, but they offered too many possibilities and the characters were so strong, ideas just kept bubbling up. So the stories kept spinning, most recently with Gabriel’s half sisters, the five Applegate siblings, as irrepressible and unpredictable a set of young ladies as any handsome young man would care to meet. The family secret Gabriel had been searching for was finally revealed in the first Applegate Sisters book, Seducing Sir Oliver.

Their adventures have taken the sisters into a second-rate London theater, up a tree to avoid escaped African cats, on the run from a half-crazed assassin, and most important, into the arms of a wonderful series of beguiling and sexy heros. So I couldn’t wait to see what would befall the final Applegate sister, the middle child, Lauryn, now a young widow, who’d always been proper and sweet, taking care of her extended family and doing all that was proper. Until now.

When her grief-stricken father-in-law gambles away his estate and all his valuables, Lauryn Applegate sees only one daring step to take--offer herself as courtesan to the winner, the handsome and notorious earl of Sutton. She can retrieve the land, and, in the–ah–process, she can trample on every rule. This good girl is ready to be bad!

Read an excerpt at my website, http://www.nicolebyrd.com/ Hope you enjoy her adventures–
Nicole

Enticing the Earl
Berkley, April '08
http://www.nicolebyrd.com/

La Vida Vampire - Nancy Haddock

2008-03-31T08:07:00.003-04:00

Moving from Dallas to St. Augustine, Florida was the culmination of a thirteen-year goal. Little did I know that moving would help fulfill another long-held goal – selling my first book.

It all started with a peanut butter commercial. That’s right, a commercial was the seed for La Vida Vampire. The commercial doesn’t run often now, but it featured two little girls having a sleepover. For one child, it appears to be her first time to spend the night away from home, so her hostess suggests things they can do. Part of the line the hostess says goes something like, “We can play Crazy Eights, or we can watch this Princess Vampire video.”

Say what? Princess Vampire? Little kids, maybe all of age six, are watching something called Princess Vampire?

Okay, so I figured that’s not what the little actress said, but it’s what I heard. Every time I thought about it, I laughed, and I couldn’t get the idea it out of my head.

The next step was to flesh out the main character and her history, and decide what kind of job and interests she might have. Here is where having moved provided further inspiration.

St. Augustine has a long, rich history, more ghosts than you can swing an EMF meter at, and the beach. Ah, yes, ghosts and the beach! In a flash, Cesca became the oldest living citizen of the city, a ghost tour guide, and a part day-walker who learns to surf. And the surfing was only one of her surprises for me.

Am I alert for the next bit of inspiration for Cesca’s series? Oh, yes! After all, my favorite T-shirt reads, WARNING: What you do may appear in my next book!

And my next favorite reads: Write with Passion, Touch Hearts, Scorch Dinner.

The last is never a problem!

La Vida Vampire is the first in a new series from Berkley, being released on April 1, 2008 – no fooling! To read an excerpt of LA VIDA VAMPIRE and play the “Where’s Cesca?” contest, please vist http://www.nancyhaddock.com/

Nancy

For Kicks

2008-03-03T21:42:00.002-05:00

NOTE FROM IDEA BOUTIQUE : "So sorry this post is tardy. The fault lies with Idea Boutique as well as the flu, and NOT with Jenna.

Enjoy!

I’ll admit it, I have residual retail angst. Managing a department store is a hard job, but it does give you tons of material if you decided to quit and write romance novels instead – which I can personally recommend!

In For Kicks, I sent my heroine off on a cross country trip to train employees about a new product. You know those hand held scanners you see everywhere in department stores now? When those came out lots of retail managers were sent on similar whirlwind trips to ensure the staff knew how to use them. Unfortunately, no former soccer stud ever decided to book me into a hotel suite…but that is what fiction is for!

In the story I took the idea of the trip, mixed it with a girl driven to be the youngest store manager in the history of her company, and tripped her up with a hot former soccer stud determined to make sure she stop and watch the sun set, with him. Opposite personalities, a common goal, and shifting priorities all mix together to make their lives implode.

I found some fun ways to keep the characters talking and engaged – tarot, reflexology, goldfish, Derby pie, childhood memories…and phone sex. Talk about writing for kicks!

Read an excerpt of FOR KICKS here

Jenna Bayey-Burke
http://www.jennabayleyburke.com/

Her Cinderella Complex - Jenna Bayley Burke

2008-02-18T10:23:00.001-05:00

The title came first. I have always had an addiction to romance novels, and anything with Cinderella in the title simply does it for me. The title popped into my head, I wron it down, and so began the story of a runaway bride who gets to have her honeymoon anyway.

I refused to plot this story, so when it started I wasn’t sure where it would end. In fact, where the book starts now is two chapters later than it did when I drafted it, but that is for the best. The story begins with Heather coming to work for Curtis, and really sets the tone for the successful boss and his fiesty assistant.

The story was fun to tell, especially peeling back the characters layer by layer. Does it make me a bad person that I enjoyed the emotional agony I put them through? Nah.

I worked everything I love about romance novels into this book – office romance, marriage of convenience, a private island, romantic situations, the quirky heroine, and a swimming pool scene I still get excited about. When I saw that my references to Great Expectations made it past my editor I was in heaven!

Not since the first book have I enjoyed writing so much. Writing Her Cinderella Complex was fun from beginning to end!

Read an excerpt of HER CINDERELLA COMPLEX here:
http://samhainpublishing.com/excerpt/her-cinderella-complex

Jenna Bayey-Burke
http://www.jennabayleyburke.com/

Veronica Wolff ~ Master of the Highlands

2008-02-07T09:18:00.000-05:00

I was a burnt-out and unfulfilled dot-com drone when I began Master of the Highlands. I’m a history buff who has always fantasized about what it would be to travel back in time, experience that world around me, meet those people. Writing time-travel fiction based on real historical figures and events was the closest I could come to escaping my world and being back there myself.

I knew I wanted to write a story set in the Scottish Highlands. I’m a big fan of Scottish history, where such high stakes bred so many stories of great courage and sacrifice. (Okay, and those kilts aren’t so bad either.)

I’d targeted roughly the seventeenth-century as my preferred era. Any later and the Jacobite rebellion would be unavoidable, and Diana Gabaldon has already delved into that so thoroughly and successfully. Much earlier than the 1600s, and I’d predate the technological and cultural developments that most interested me.

I began to research, devouring anything and everything I could find online, and I kept running across Ewen’s name. He never bowed to Cromwell’s redcoat forces. He was a swordsman without equal, who never sustained a wound in his ninety years of life. He’s credited with killing the last wolf in Scotland. Gracious, loyal, wise, tall, noble, imposing, and fearsome are among the many grand words that have been used to describe him. He’s referred to as “Ulysses of the Highlands.” Sir Walter Scott immortalized him in “The Lady of the Lake,” basing a critical fight scene on one of Ewen’s most famous, most brutal battles (which I also recreate!)

Ewen Cameron’s reputation in the history of the Highlands is nothing short of mythic, and yet, I wondered, where were all the movies about him? All the books? And so, as a hero for my first book, Ewen was a no-brainer.Narrowing the timeframe down wasn’t too difficult. The story behind his Battle of Achdalieu held great appeal. Ewen was so young then, leading his men to fight, facing down Cromwell’s forces, defending Cameron lands. The stories of his feats in battle were so outrageously heroic—and his own personal tragedy so shattering—that this 1654 battle quickly became my focal point.

Lily, my heroine, came readily from there, though you’ll forgive this first-time author some overlap (yes, the heroine also happens to be, you guessed it, a disenchanted dot-commer…) Now if only I could figure out how to get my own self back there for real!

Please visit my web site where you can read more about the real history behind Ewen’s story, see photos of Cameron country, and enter a contest to win a gorgeous 10 X 15 photograph from artist Rebecca Cusworth. http://veronicawolff.com/

Veronica

Dakota Cassidy

2008-02-05T08:29:00.000-05:00

The idea for my book The Accidental Werewolf came to me after I attended the RWA conference in Dallas in 2004. I was there meeting my agent for the first time face-to-face and it so happened that we were also sharing the hotel with a Mary Kay Cosmetics convention.

I spent some time talking to the women who were attending, and being a big fan of all things girly, I couldn’t help but be fascinated by the colorful suits these women wore to indicate their levels of hierarchy in the company and the tiaras they donned for a big ball they were all attending. I’m an ex-small-time beauty queen, and I have to admit to a little tiara envy J

Almost two and a half years later I’d decided to take what I’d learned from that convention and turn it into a proposal. Now I write paranormal comedies, so it was only natural that when I decided to involve multi-level cosmetic sales in my book, I’d make up my own company and my own rules and really play up the sometimes over the top run to cosmetic greatness. Thus the fictional company Bobbie-Sue Cosemetics was created and my heroine Marty Andrews, a bit of a loner, rabid about her climb to makeup success, and an overall smart-mouth, who’s accidentally bitten by a werewolf, was born.

The Accidental Werewolf is a snarky, fun-filled romp and in part, an homage to all of us girly girls, and I so hope you’ll take a peek and come play in my zany werewolf world!

Dakota Cassidy

VOWS & A VENGEFUL GROOM by Bronwyn Jameson

2008-01-13T13:36:00.000-05:00

Vows & A Vengeful Groom (Silhouette Desire, Jan 08) is the first book in an author-led continuity series called Diamonds Down Under. The idea for the six-book series came first. Senior editor Melissa Jeglinski wanted a big, juicy, dramatic dynastical tale based around a powerful family in Australia and New Zealand.

We -- the six authors involved -- came up with a family rent apart thirty years ago over ownership of a fabulous diamond amid allegations of theft and betrayal. Our series would see the family feud reignited in the next generation when a tragic plane crash uncovers new secrets and scandals.

So, we started out by building a family tree and we each chose one of the six cousins for our book. This was amazingly civil -- for some reason we'd all "adopted" a different character during the tree-building phase. Next we brainstormed hooks and storylines so each book would be different. We didn't want two marriages of convenience or secret mistresses or reunion romances.

In the early stages there was some shuffling of book order and even of authors involved. MJ requested revisions on a couple of the proposed storylines and this lead to new characters and relationships that upped the stakes for the whole series.

I was given the first book, which meant the inciting incident -- the plane crash and the tragic death of two key characters -- was a big part of my book. My character, Kimberley Blackstone, needed strong links to both sides of the feud and so I decided to make her estranged from her family, the Blackstones, and working for "the enemy", the Hammonds.

My story hook was reunion romance. This worked very well for my prodigal daughter returning home to await news of her father's fate. I decided that her ex, Ric Perrini, would deliver the news and bring her home. By making him a power figure in her father's business -- and making that a key conflict between Ric and Kim -- she would doubt his motives from the very start.

Was he there for Kimberley Blackstone, the woman, or did he need her support in his bid to become the new head of Blackstone Diamonds? My original title of the book, Perrini's Boardroom Bride, summed up this key point of conflict.

VOWS & A VENGEFUL GROOM is out now. For more information, excerpts, and the chance to win some wonderful prizes including critiques and a diamond pendant, visit the series website http://www.diamonds-downunder.com/

Bron

Bond of Fire - Diane Whiteside

2008-01-04T08:57:00.000-05:00

I always knew my Texas vampires had to represent Texas’s original foundations, one way or another. Surprisingly, a hero has always stepped forward in this saga, bringing his own story to incorporate a key element of Texas’s past. Don Rafael carries Spain’s ancient glories, both glamorous and bittersweet, while Gray Wolf adds Native Americans’ rich wisdom. Ethan Templeton – well, you’ll learn about him in BOND OF DARKNESS.

But other ethnic groups arrived long ago. For example, the flag of France once flew over part of Texas. That’s right: seventeenth-century France, the land of the Sun King, Versailles with its Hall of Mirrors, creator of impregnable fortresses, once set claim to Texas. Being French, they even named their ship La Belle, or The Beautiful One, rather than giving her a more bloodthirsty or religious name. Wonder what LaSalle and his men thought when they arrived on the southeastern coast to find a landscape infested by alligators?

On the other hand, perhaps Frenchmen were the best equipped to cope with alligators. After all, those amphibians are silent killers who lurk in the dark to ambush their prey with razor-sharp blades, dragging them down into the depths never to be seen again. It almost sounded like what the worst sort of gossipmonger or social climber would do at the deadliest court in Europe.

Suddenly Jean-Marie appeared in my head, as if he’d walked out of the Versailles swamp to make a better life in Texas. Silver tongued, handsome survivor of that deadly court. Superb spy and assassin. Haunted eyes and unbelievably loyal to his few friends.

Above all else, always in love with one woman – and only one. No matter how long it took or how many trials, he’d wrestle the Devil himself to win her: Hélène d’Agelet, named for the woman whose face launched a thousand ships and the French astronomer who witnessed a star going nova. The most beautiful woman in his world and the light in his darkness.

BOND OF FIRE explores the silky tensions, knife-edged danger, and bedrock fidelity, found in both French history and today’s Texas. I hope you enjoy its world as much as I do!

You can read excerpts from BOND OF FIRE here.
http://dianewhiteside.com/books/texas-vampires/bond-of-fire/

Diane Whiteside
http://www.dianewhiteside.com/

Caged Wolf by Cynthia Eden

2007-12-17T08:14:00.000-05:00

Have I mentioned how much I love visiting at The Idea Boutique? Because I sure do love this place. I love finding out just how authors created their stories…

Today, well, I’m going to talk about where I received the inspiration for my latest Red Sage release, “Caged Wolf” in SECRETS, VOLUME 21: PRIMAL HEAT. “Caged Wolf” is actually the last installment in my Call of the Wolf trilogy for Red Sage. As the name implies, “Caged Wolf” is most definitely a werewolf tale, and the inspiration for this story came from the old Beast of Gevaudan tale.

For anyone not familiar with the Beast…in the 1700s, a wolf-like creature terrorized the French countryside—attacking and killing in a blood-thirsty rampage.

When I think of werewolves, I always think of the Beast, so, when I was creating the heroes for my trilogy, I decided the men (werewolves) would hail from France. However, these men wouldn’t be vicious killers like the Beast (because that wouldn’t make them good hero material, now, would it?); instead, they would be strong and brave—and they would police their society of wolves…making certain no rampages occurred.

In “Caged Wolf,” my hero, Alerac La Morte, is used to protecting his pack, but he is caught completely off-guard when he comes face to face with his mate—and realizes that the woman destined to be his actually harbors a deep-rooted hatred for his kind. But, hey, no one ever said love and happy endings were supposed to come easily, right?

Happy Holidays!

Cynthia Eden
http://www.cynthiaeden.com/

Destiny's Warrior ~ Heather Waters

2007-12-04T09:33:00.000-05:00

Ah, my turn at The Idea Boutique again. But honestly, the idea of Destiny's Warrior came to me more as an avalanche than the subtle little wave that brought me Devil's Possession.

Images of strange creatures, some I had to create identities for, some I had to research through mythology, popped into my head at the strangest times. They then had to be sorted into Dark or Light, depending on what side of my war they would fight.

Kingdoms of caves, islands, forests HAD to be written. The problem was, I'd never done anything so detailed before. So...MINE. And that's exactly what Destiny's Warrior is. MINE. At least, while I was writing it, that's how it felt. A fantasy story entwined with romance and adventure. A tale created almost singularly from my own head rather than from the bowels of research....

When a Scottish laird discovers he's the prince of a fae king, he must quickly come to believe in things he's always thought were nonsense. Total fish-out-of-water story that I hope you'll enjoy in time for the Christmas holidays!

Heather

Time for a Switch…

2007-12-01T08:29:00.000-05:00

I love paranormal stories. LOVE them. I’ve been paranormal obsessed ever since I was a kid. And, in the past when I’ve written my tales, well, my paranormal characters were the “good” guys. For example, when I wrote my Call of the Wolf trilogy for Red Sage Publishing (insert hyperlink: http://www.redsagepub.com/), the heroes in my three novellas were werewolves. Sure, they had more than a bit of the beast in them, but they were also honorable men. Dedicated. Strong.

When I wrote “New Year’s Bites” for the A RED HOT NEW YEAR (Avon Red) anthology, I knew I wanted to try something different. So, I switched up the roles of my paranormal characters. The werewolf became the villain of the piece—he’s an obsessive and dangerous character who bites the heroine, Anna Summers, and sets her on a brand new (and scary path) for her life. The hero of my story, Jon York, well, he’s still certainly a “good” guy, but he has more than his share of dark secrets, too.

After Anna is bitten, the fierce instincts of the wolf begin to consume her. Passion, need, savage hunger—she’s nearly overwhelmed by the feelings and desires coursing through her. But Jon isn’t about to leave Anna to face the fury of her transition alone. He sticks by her side, protects her, and convinces Anna that a walk on the wild side, with him, is just what she has been needing…

If you’d like to read an excerpt (insert hyperlink: http://www.cynthiaeden.com/books/new-years-bites/#excerpt) from “New Year’s Bites” please visit my website at http://www.cynthiaeden.com/. I’m also hosting a New Year’s Party Contest in conjunction with the release of A RED HOT NEW YEAR, so, if you’d like the chance to win a New Year’s Party Pack with supplies (party hats, tiaras, noise makers) for 50 people, then stop by my website for your chance to win!

Happy reading!

Cynthia Eden
http://www.cynthiaeden.com/

Charmed, I'm Sure ~ Candace Havens

2007-11-29T08:19:00.000-05:00

It’s difficult for me to believe that I just turned in my fifth book, “The Demon King and I,” in five years, and now “Charmed & Dangerous” is coming out in mass market on Dec. 4. I still remember sitting on my bed at two in the morning, the night before my very first meeting with an editor. Another writer friend told me I needed to have more than one idea to pitch to the editor, and I was frantically trying to make something up.

It was a strange feeling when I finally wrote about a character who had been dancing around in my head for some time. I’d just heard that “Buffy” was going off the air, and I was angry with creator Joss Whedon for not going one more year. In retrospect they ended at the right time, but back then I was mad. What would I do without my weekly dose of “Buffy?”

That night before the meeting I put pen to paper and created a character who had the attitude of Buffy (Sarah Michelle Gellar) but the power of Bad Willow (Alyson Hannigan). She would use that power to protect important people, and to save the world. I can’t remember how I came up with the idea for the prime minister, but I wanted a really powerful, cool leader. So of course I had to make one up. (Smile)

That one-page synopsis became a book just a few months later, and crazy stuff happened along the way. A love triangle between Sam, Bronwyn and Sheik Azir developed out of thin air one day. Azir met the Prime Minister in what was supposed to be an information finding expedition, but as I described Azir, I fell for him. Funny how that happens when we least expect it.

The powerful wizard Garnout came from the need for Bronwyn to have some sort of mentor. I love Garnout. He’s one of my favorite people. I also wanted to create my dream town. A place where magic abounds, but overall people are friendly with one another. And of course, great food can be found on every corner in Sweet, Texas.

Even though I’ve moved on to new characters that crazy witch Bronwyn is still dancing around in my head. I sometimes wonder if I’ll ever run out of stories for her, and I hope to write many more. It still freaks me out a little when I realize these funny stories have turned into very real books. I’m so grateful to Bronwyn and to all the adventures we’ve had together.

Ideas never die...they just get reincarnated

2007-11-05T08:10:00.000-05:00

It took me nearly six years to sell my first book to Harlequin Superromance, which meant I had a lot of unsold manuscripts, beginnings of manuscripts, and scraps of story ideas lying around. I always thought that after I sold my first book, those unsold stories would be snapped up by my editor.
They weren’t.

Not because she read them and didn’t like them, but because I realized they were all deficient in some way—eighteen months later, I still haven’t fixed them up or submitted them. I did sell one of my previous stories, of which another editor at Superromance had already requested a full manuscript, but the rest are still languishing in the bottom drawer.

But I haven’t given up on those stories. They all had some good in them, and I want to use that. I’ve just reworked the synopsis of one of those stories to give it a more “Superromance” feel. If the editor likes it, it’ll mean a substantial rewrite of the book, but at least I’ll get to use all that fun dialogue and those emotional scenes that meant so much to me when I wrote them. Ultimately, I could do the same with all those stories—if I want to.

There’s another alternative, and that’s to take elements of those stories, and reuse them. Karina Bliss’ upcoming Mr. Irresistible (Superromance, Feb. 08), uses the hero from one of her earlier manuscripts. Like Karina, I have characters or starting hooks or individual scenes that I’d like to transplant from my older stories into new ones.

Then there are those scraps of ideas... I was talking to my Superromance editor about a story that would involve a cynical philanthropist who finds an abandoned baby and uses it as a media stunt. The heroine would be the vet who treated the hero’s dog, and didn’t think he was caring enough to look after either a dog or a baby.

My editor didn’t think a vet was the right character, and she’d just bought “a dog story”. So the dog disappeared, the vet became a pediatrician, and the resulting book, The Diaper Diaries, will be out from Superromance in March. Right after I abandoned the vet idea, my editor at Harlequin NASCAR invited me to write a novella for a Christmas anthology. My nimble mind (that’s a joke, my brain usually moves at the pace of semi-dry concrete), immediately thought about using the vet with a NASCAR driver. When my critique partner Tessa Radley (The Desert Bride of Al-Zayed, Silhouette Desire, out now), suggested the driver should run over the dog, thus involving the vet, and I knew the setup was perfect. The resulting novella, The Natural, is out now in the A NASCAR Holiday 2 anthology. Visit http://www.abbygaines.com/ to read an excerpt of The Natural, and see how an idea can transfer seamlessly from one story to another.

So my advice is to hang on to those ideas! You never know when they’ll come to your rescue....

Abby

Heroines Are People Too - Julia London

2007-11-02T09:37:00.000-04:00

The DANGERS of DECEIVING A VISCOUNT, the third book in my Desperate Debutantes series, is about a twenty-two year-old woman in 1822. Her family’s funds have dwindled, she’s gotten herself into a predicament trying to keep up appearances, and ends up posing as a tradeswoman at the estate of a very handsome and virile viscount. Close quarters lead to a growing, mutual attraction and lots of lusty thoughts. My unmarried, virginal heroine is very tempted to give in to those lusty thoughts.

Who wouldn’t be tempted when presented with a handsome man in a mansion?

Historical romances, if they are true to the times and tone of early nineteenth century literature, usually include virginal heroines who are seduced, duped—or do the duping—into marriage. The typical happy-ever-after in an historical is when the heroine lands the handsome wealthy lord and all the attendant perks that go along with that. That’s why we love the books!

The heroines who succeed are clever, and they know how to give as good as they get. But they are conscious of their virtue at all times, for we have come to understand from nineteenth century literature that a woman who lost her virtue lost everything.

On the other hand, there are some lusty and interesting biographies of late eighteenth and early nineteenth century women—Georgianna; Caroline, Princess of Wales; the sisters of George IV, to name a few. These biographies tell another side of the historical heroine. Those documents suggest that women were human and were sometimes brought down by temptation. Adultery and pre-marital sex were not unheard of, and frankly, in some circles, while it was frowned upon, it seems like it was almost expected.

That got me to thinking—a twenty-one year old woman with no prospects and no beaus might view life a little differently than what we’ve come to believe. She might be sorely tempted when opportunity presents itself, because for all she knows, it might be her only opportunity. I’m not suggesting she would throw her virtue away…but I’m suggesting she might. She might at least consider it…especially if she’d assumed a different identity and knew no one would be the wiser. Especially if she’d fallen in love. And it helps knowing that if she gives into her desires, there are a lot of tricks that would make her at least appear to be a virgin if she should ever marry.

That is the romantic premise of THE DANGERS OF DECEIVING A VISCOUNT. My heroine is an unmarried woman who knows what society expects of her, but also knows what her adult body wants and needs. She is human. She is tempted. She’s in love. She weighs the consequences, but in the end, her heart rules, just as it does for every one.

This book was really interesting to write. I threw off all the characteristics I thought an historical heroine should have and built Phoebe from scratch. I hope you like the result.

Julia London

Catherine Spangler

2007-10-11T08:27:00.000-04:00

I have a confession to make. I’m not an organized, methodical writer. I’m also not very observant, except when I see emotional exchanges (emotions ring my chimes). I don’t ask myself (or my characters) deep probing questions, and my story ideas don’t generally come from thought-provoking articles or real-life situations. I tend to drift through life, responding more on an intuitive level rather than from a logical, mental perspective. Okay, so I’m a ditz. I admit it. I’m also a chocolate slut (saw that on a button today), an “Official Kilt Inspector” (thanks to Sandy Blair), and a coffee addict . . . See how much focus I have? I get off topic very easily *g*.

So I don’t consciously create my stories. They come to me in dreams, in thought snippets, in inspirational flashes. And they never fully form until I’m actually writing. I am an organic writer, a true “pantster”. But I know the stories come from my psyche, and they’re the product of everything I’ve ever read or seen (I believe this is true of most writers). I have an extremely active subconscious that is constantly processing information (again, we all do). But since I’m not a very externally focused person, my internal process drives my stories, which is why I can’t tell you exactly how those stories come to be.

One thing is certain about my current Sentinel series, books which are dark, edgy, and sexy paranormal romances that some people are calling “paranormal thrillers”—the underlying premise came from my life-long fascination with the psychic Edgar Cayce and with Atlantis and metaphysical subjects. In the usual, scatterbrained creative process that works for me, the idea just came to me (probably after my subconscious worked feverishly on it for a few years).

Enter the Sentinels, reincarnated Atlantians returning to Earth after thousands of years. Their sole purpose is to track down Belians—evil Atlantian entities who were responsible for the destruction of Atlantis. Reincarnating into the Earth in large numbers, Belians thrive on blood, death, terror and chaos. They have found violent venues as serial killers, drug lords, gang leaders, brutal dictators, any form of incarnate evil. The Sentinels are sworn to stop them. They have one edge—a small group of psychic humans known as conductors. These humans can link psychically with Sentinels and enhance the tracking of Belians. The linking process is called a conduction, and involves the rise of energy through the body’s spiritual chakras, creating a powerful sexual surge. Most conductions involve sex.

In TOUCHED BY FIRE, Marla Reynolds is a conductor, although she doesn’t know it. When she meets ultra-sexy Luke Paxton at a Houston bar, she’s upended by the powerful sexual attraction between them, not realizing it’s the pull of a matched Sentinel and conductor. Luke knows what it is, though, and realizes Marla might be the only person who can help him track a Belian serial bomber.

But Marla is resistant to Luke’s charms. She’s been emotionally frozen since a brutal attack on her sister eleven years ago, and knows Luke is way out of her league. She avoids him, which drives him to a desperate act to get her cooperation—kidnapping. Even then, Marla proves to be one of his biggest challenges and more than a match for him.

I can’t tell you exactly where Luke came from, except he was a minor secondary character in the first Sentinel book, Touched by Darkness, and I have a tendency to get very attached to secondary characters. And Marla . . . well, I have no idea, except I like heroines who aren’t quite perfect, maybe even a little ordinary like the rest of us. Real women who overcome real challenges, with that inner core of strength that women innately possess.

Ultimately, after the story has unfolded and I write “The End”, all I can do is thank my muse for coming through for me. And celebrate with chocolate and maybe a glass of wine . . . while new ideas drift to me.

Please visit me at http://www.catherinespangler.com to read excerpts, check out my contests, and vote for your favorite book video (there are four different ones), or at http://www.myspace.com/catherinespangler.

Happy reading!

~ Catherine

So step into the hidden world of the Sentinels, and surround yourself with the ancient magic of Atlantis, and the suspense of hunting ultimate evil—and of course, the empowerment of love.

Jane Beckenham

2007-10-08T09:26:00.000-04:00

Sometimes as a writer I have this little bird on my shoulder, it’s scathing voice taunting me. “You’ll never find another story, you’ll never do it again.”
Do I listen? Sort of.

For me ideas for a story come in odd moments, mostly when I’m in that half wake/sleep stage. It might be a name, a title for a book, or at times it’s been a full bodied story, the names, situation, who the characters and what there journey will be. With one manuscript, I was virtually silent all weekend as the story unfolded, voices, whole dialogues coming at me 24/7. It was exciting, and scary at the same time. Would I remember it? My family thought I was nuts, and by the Sunday night I had begun to agree.

For my most recent release – He’s The One, the idea came as I saw a scene unfold in my head. A classic car, racing to the church – the old get me to the church on time - thing. There was a woman standing outside. A wedding planner.

I began to ask her questions. Who was she, her name, what she was doing.
And, yes, I will admit, she began to answer! She loved her life, her business, was successful. But there was a problem. Her brides asked her questions about sex.

A problem you ask. Sure is, if your wedding planner is a virgin and has ZIP experience with men. I mean how can she answer questions about multiple orgasms, when she’s never experienced one!

So there was the premise. Get rid of her virginity. Get her business back on track.

Easy as 1-2-3. Well it would be, but she had to find a man happy to do the deed, and walk away.

She needed a love ‘em and leave ‘em kinda guy.

Cade Harper is that man. He’s gorgeous, and in fact I have to admit when I recently did the edits, I absolutely fell in love with this guy all over again. Think bad boy Sawyer from the TV show Lost. Very yummy.

So from here my ideas escalated. So she has sex. So what?

Ah ha… there is the problem. She thought, and he thought once would be enough. Wham bam, thank you ma’am and it’s all over.

Oh, no siree. No way. Once for these two would never ever be enough.

For me ideas come with a word. The other night I had to brainstorm an idea for a competition. A reunion story. Couldn’t think of a thing, then it hit me…Christmas is coming, and hey presto I have my reunion. Santa and Mrs. Santa are going become reacquainted.

One of the best things for me is to allow myself to think of stories. If I feel all ‘blocked’ I will take myself off to bed and lie down and meditate for ½ an hour. Just blank it all out, not something I must admit to being very good at. Then hey presto, back at the computer and it comes along and I’m back writing.
So the morale of my story? Take just one word – one – and make it into a story. It can and does happen, believe me!

Happy writing and reading
Jane Beckenham
http://www.janebeckenham.com/
http://www.lindenbayromance.com/

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