Guest - Victoria Janssen

Good morning everyone! Grab your coffee and cinnomon bun because we've got a great post on world building today from author Victoria Janssen.

Victoria Janssen's second novel, The Moonlight Mistress, is set during the early days of WWI and includes paranormal elements. It's due out December 2009 from Harlequin Spice, a trade paperback line of erotic novels. She's recently sold two more novels to Spice. Find out more at http://www.victoriajanssen.com.

She blogs on writing, reading, and genre here: http://victoriajanssen.blogspot.com/ and twitters here: http://twitter.com/victoriajanssen.

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Multi-Purpose Worldbuilding
By Victoria Janssen

In The Moonlight Mistress, werewolves are an important element. However, the world they live in is much like our world; the werewolves exist as "secret history." Though several of the characters know about the existence of werewolves, and one finds out about them in the course of the novel, for the most part they exist out of sight.

The setting of the novel is World War One Europe, so the primary worldbuilding for the novel consists of historical detail. Also, it's an erotic novel, so sexual relationships are also very important. But I wanted the paranormal elements to be inextricable from the rest. If any one of the three elements was removed -- history, erotica, werewolves -- the story would collapse.

I've always been told that every detail of a story should be relevant in more than one aspect, and that's even more important in speculative fiction, where so many more details are required. For example, a particular song and its topic tell the reader something about the world as well as something about the character who's chosen that song to sing. If the character is singing too loudly, he might alert his enemies and thus propel the plot forward. I tried to use duplicate or triplicate relevance whenever the werewolves appeared in the story.

First, the werewolves served a plot purpose. The main romantic couple in the story meet because the hero is trying to gain information about a secret laboratory studying werewolves; later, when he shares this with the heroine, it demonstrates that a level of trust has been established between them. Her reaction shows how she's come to feel about him. When they take action together (deepening their relationship) to save the werewolves, again the werewolves are propelling the plot. At the same time, the personal relationship between two werewolves comments on the relationship between the main couple; both couples are thrown together because of the war, and both pairs discover they have something powerful in common.

One of the soldier characters is a werewolf. He has werewolf problems which draw in his human friends and have consequences for them. Each time he acts like a werewolf, the plot is moving, his character is being reinforced, and the reader is being reminded that they're reading a fantasy.

I hope this is helpful. Please feel free to ask me any questions you might have!




Blurb:

As World War One begins, English chemist Lucilla Osbourne finds herself trapped on German soil. She and a French scientist, Pascal Fournier, escape and share a brief, intense affair.

They are reunited as Pascal investigates rumors of werewolves and the rogue scientist who abducts and tortures them.

Meanwhile, a group of soldiers, including Lucilla's brother, deal with forbidden relationships, little knowing that one of their own is also a werewolf.
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-- Lynda Again
Excellent article! WWI isn't a huge 'romantic' period in our genre so it's great to see the boundaries of our genre being stretched to include it. The era held heartbreak and courage for many. It shouldn't be neglected. And since we here in the USA are honoring our vets this Wednesday, this is the perfect time to say Thank You for your service to us and the country.



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From Pages to Panoramic View

Is it just me or are they making movies out of tons of books? It seems everywhere I turn I keep seeing the words "based on a novel". In fact, the movie I watched tonight had a little note that said "based on a short story", but I had no idea until the film's closing credits.

I know the issue of turning romances...or any book for that matter, into a film has been going around since I was a teenager. Back then I was positive Johanna Lindsey's novels would end up on the big screen. Just as books can be good or bad depending on how strong they are in characters, plot, and setting, so can movies. Plus they have something larger to overcome, showing those monologue moments of inner speak on the big screen as more than an actor or actress thinking to him/herself. Though with the current trend to write more like tv or a movie, part of those long asides have been clipped or tossed out completely.     

From the movies you've seen made from the written word, which have you liked? Is there a book you wish could come to the big screen? Is there a movie that you hoped would be fabulous, but the translation flopped? 

Personally, I read Eragon after seeing the movie, and I felt jipped. Though I truthfully had issues with the movie even before I picked up the book. I loved the base story, and enjoyed seeing Jeremy Irons but some of the cinematography took me out of the world. And I've felt the same more than once from Harry Potter "installments". 

No matter how I feel when the movie fades to black, I applaud everyone who had a hand in the movies and spend those big bucks for fantasy and paranormal movies! It's not an easy task to create another world here on Earth, brainstorm costumes into fruition from a scant description, and speak a language without any sounds bites. As evidenced by Peter Jackson's tenacity for LOTR, magic can happen...even if people can point their finger at issues.   

As writers, we're constantly graded on our work from the moment the words hit the page, even from ourselves. It's no different in movies, when they're relying on a script for instructions. One oversight can work it's way into the frame only to be tweaked during those final edits before the project makes it's public debut. Sound familiar? 

Maybe there isn't much difference between the two, except the vehicle they're released in, but in the end it all comes down to how it makes the audience feel. Whether it's a "wow" moment, love at first "eewk", or an "Ohh" for sweetness....the most important thing is that the audience feels connected eventhough they're snug in their seats. 

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Guest - Elaine Corvidae

Good morning everyone! Today's guest, author Elaine Corvidae has been telling stories about faeries, elves, and dragons since she was a small child. Her dark fantasy novels have won numerous awards, including multiple Eppie Awards and Dream Realm Awards for Best Fantasy Novel. When she isn’t wandering the worlds of her imagination, she lives in Harrisburg, NC, with her husband and several cats. You can visit her on the web at www.onecrow.net, or follow her on Twitter at http://twitter.com/ElaineCorvidae.

She's also given us a terrific excerpt from her new book to enjoy AND she's offering a free copy of a book from her backlist so read all the way down to find out how you can be the lucky reader.

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Sympathy for the Devil

I'm very much a character-driven writer. If I know the characters well enough, and if I know the starting point of the book, then the rest of the plot should basically unfold itself based on what those characters would do in a given situation.

But sometimes I find myself stuck. I go back and re-think things, trying to figure out where I've gone wrong. Have I got a good handle on the heroine? Check. Hero? Check. So what's the problem?

Ah. There's one more important character, and I've forgotten all about him. I'm talking, of course, about the villain.

Villains don't often get much respect. By definition, the villain is the character who is going to fail in the end (most of the time, anyway), the one that the reader will spend the entire book rooting against, the one who does horrible things and causes no end of trouble for the hero and heroine. At the same time, however, the villain is generally the character who drives most of the action―he (or she) creates the problem the heroine and hero must solve, puts up roadblocks and complications throughout the plot, and gives the protagonists something to overcome. In most books, the hero and heroine spend a great deal of time reacting while the villain acts. Which makes the villain a darn important part of the story.

So it's no wonder that, when things stall or fall apart while I'm writing, it's inevitably because I don't understand the villain well enough. As you might have guessed, I'm not a big fan of the Snidely Whiplash school of villainy, where the antagonist is nothing but a cardboard cutout twirling his mustache as he ties the heroine to the train tracks. Give me a villain who is a complete person, someone who, although evil and wrong, has a real motivation outside of just “being evil.”

If I had to guess, I would say that some writers neglect this aspect of character development because it isn't always fun. Spending a lot of time in the head of a character who may be an extremely unpleasant person isn't generally a barrel of laughs. But for me, it's a critical part that I can't skip, at least without causing myself a major headache.

The best example is probably my Moon, Sun, Star series. The first book, Tyrant Moon, was a dream to write. Long before I typed out the opening sentence, I had a full understanding not just of the hero and heroine, but of the two main villains as well. Both of them had long and nuanced histories with the protagonists, and both of them had real human motivations for doing the things they did. It didn't make them any less wrong or evil, but it made them real enough to me that I knew what their next move would be throughout the story, without even having to think about it.

In contrast, the final book, Sorceress Star, was a nightmare to write. I kept getting stuck, kept having to do rewrites that still didn't work...until I hit upon the idea of writing the flashback scenes from the point of view of the novel's villain, the sorceress Melilandra. You see, I knew she and the hero, Thraxis, had grown up together, that Melilandra's mother had been in charge of raising both of them from the time Thraxis was five, and that they absolutely hated each other. But I didn't know why Melilandra hated Thraxis so much that she'd spent a great deal of time and effort tormenting him, until I realized that she felt he'd stolen her mother's affection when they were children. (The irony being that her mother didn't have any affection to give anyone, so Thraxis was just as miserable as she was.) In a roundabout way, everything Melilandra does is an attempt to prove that she's better than Thraxis, that she's the one who deserved her mother's love and attention. On some level, I think she believes that if she can just destroy him it will somehow ease her inner pain. Once I understood that, once I realized Melilandra's deepest motivation, the entire book opened up to me, and I flew through the rest of it.

So writers, don't neglect your villains in favor of characters you actually like. And readers, let's have a little appreciation for those dastardly villains, without whom the story would be about a pair of perfectly happy people with no obstacles to overcome. And who wants to read about that?

Elaine

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Tyrant Moon tells the story of a dying mage who must help a barbarian warrior in her quest to save her people. Thraxis is an Athraskani wizard who created a magic jewel that would gift any mage with enormous power. A rogue wizard stole the jewel, using it to cast a death curse on Thraxis before fleeing to hide among the barbarian tribes.

The Arrow that Flies the Farthest is the Champion of her clan--its most skilled warrior, whose ritual combats with other Champions were meant to prevent war among the clans. But war is unleashed nevertheless when her ambitious chieftain joins forces with the rogue Athraskani. Arrow's only hope of stopping the war seems to lie with Thraxis, who alone knows how to destroy the jewel he created. But can a pacifist wizard and a woman born to kill find the common ground needed to work together...before time runs out for them both?

Excerpt:

Thraxis drew a deep breath, then let it out slowly. The fire made strange shadows on his gaunt face. "You know," he said at length, "I had some doubts about this journey at first. But, really, this isn't so bad."

Nightwing let out a snort and lifted his head. Stalker looked up as well, suddenly tense. Even Shadow Lord left off grazing the tender leaves off the trees and tried to back away, hobbled as he was. Arrow let out a hiss of warning and drew her sword, motioning for her companion to get away from the fire.

"What are you doing?" Thraxis asked irritably. "And why on earth are you waving at me like that?"

Then the familiar thrum of an arrow in flight went past her ear, ending in an equally-familiar thok as it met flesh. Thraxis let out a wild yell and fell backwards, even as four shapes surged out of the dark wood.

Bandits, Arrow thought as she ran to meet them. And not ones that were doing very well as outlaws, by the look of them. Their clothing was a jumble of crudely-stitched hides, uncured furs, finely-dyed cottons, and silks. Hunger had thinned their faces behind thick beards, and she smelled the stink of malnutrition on their breath.

Arrow's heart sped and her body tried to kick into motion. Cursing mentally, she forced herself to hold back, fighting the instincts of a lifetime and praying that she could maintain her disguise of normality, yet still keep herself and Thraxis from getting killed.

Two of the bandits ran past, one made for the horses, and the other faced her. Surprise showed on his hollow features. "This one's a woman!" he shouted.

"Keep her alive," ordered another, presumably the leader.

The first fixed his eyes on Arrow, and she caught a glimpse of desperation and despair that bordered on madness. Whoever he was, she doubted that he had chosen this life willingly. It was even possible that he had done nothing to deserve it but had succumbed instead to bad luck or the ill will of others. For an instant, she wondered if her victims had seen something similar in her eyes.

Thrusting the thought away, she whipped her sword around in sudden fury. Her opponent clumsily lifted a blade green with corrosion, only to have it shatter as she met it with her own. For a moment he seemed confused, clearly having not expected such resistance from a woman. Then her sword clove his heart, and his eyes glazed over with death.

She turned as he fell, caught a glimpse of Shadow Lord rearing wildly, hobbles cut. "Nightwing! Stalker! Kill!" she shouted automatically, although the cousins probably didn't need her encouragement by now. Stalker whinnied shrilly, spun, and lashed out with his rear hooves at a shadowy form. The outlaw let out a strangled scream and tried to flail away, only to be knocked over by Nightwing's broad shoulder.

Satisfied that the horses would not be lost, Arrow completed her turn and saw that the other two bandits had cornered Thraxis. The Athraskani cowered back against a tree trunk, his hands half-raised as if he would cast a spell. One of the bandits laughed incredulously, bent over, and seized a handful of robe. "What the hell is this? A scribe? You should have stayed with your books, ink-eater."

A crude bone knife caught the firelight. Arrow swore and leapt over the fire, certain that Thraxis was beyond noticing whether or not her jump was inhumanly high. She came down lightly behind the one with the knife, her sword sliding through his kidney and up into his lungs. He made an odd, gurgling sound, then fell to the ground, vomiting blood. Putting her back to him, she prepared to face his companion, only to discover that the man had already fled.

The camp was a wreck, their dinner scattered into the fire and on the ground. The stench of blood and entrails fouled the night air. Stalker and Nightwing were too well trained to run, but their nostrils were flared and their eyes rimmed with white. Of Shadow Lord, there was no sign.

Fury slammed through Arrow, and she spun around and marched over to Thraxis. "Lady of Beasts curse you!" she shouted. "Why didn't you do something? You have magic--by the gods, use it, don't just sit there and wait to get killed!"

Thraxis lay propped against the tree, his skin pale as chalk. An arrow stood out from his left shoulder, and the front of his robe was dark with blood. The last bandit lay at Thraxis's feet, still moaning and blowing bubbles of blood from his nostrils. With a grunt of annoyance, Arrow leaned over and dealt the dying man a mercy stroke. Thraxis turned his head away from the sight.

"I'm hurt," he said at last. His voice was thin and weak.

Arrow sighed and knelt beside him. Her fingers probed gingerly at the protruding shaft. Thraxis winced and went even paler.

"I'm going to have to cut away your robe," she said, reaching for the knife sheathed on her left thigh.

"No."

Frustration went through her--couldn't he see that she was trying to help? "Fine," she said, gripped the arrow, and snapped off the haft. Thraxis yelped and tried to jerk away.

"Are you trying to kill me?"

"I'm trying to save your life, you ass!" Batting away his hands, she reached for the front of his robe. Although she found a seam, there appeared to be no laces or buttons anywhere. "Damn it, doesn't this thing open?"

Thraxis looked as though he was going to argue. She aimed a harsh glare at him, and he glanced down, glowering and muttering something about magic. At the touch of his good hand, the robe parted enough to allow her to pull it off over the broken haft. He wore a black shirt beneath, which she cut through quickly.

After a moment of examining the wound, she bit her lip grimly. "Can you use your magic to heal yourself?"

He looked at her warily. "Why?"

"Because the arrow severed the great artery going to the arm. You're bleeding a river, and it won't get any better after I pull the arrowhead out."

Thraxis closed his eyes in an odd gesture of defeat. "Are you certain that you can't stop it by more ordinary means?"

She sat back on her heels, staring at him. His reluctance this time went beyond simple pig-headedness. "Why don't you want to use your magic?" she asked. "You started to at the inn that night, but then dropped the spell. Tonight, you almost got your throat slit, but you didn't raise a hand. And now you want me to staunch the bleeding without your help. Why?"

Thraxis met her eyes for a moment, and then turned away. Something seemed to go out of him, like a man surrendering to an enemy. "BecauseI can't."

Arrow froze. "Can't what?"

"I can't use my magic," he snapped, as though she were being willfully obtuse. "I'm under a curse. When Balthazar turned renegade and fled, he left behind a trap on one of the spell books that I was studying. The moment I touched it, it unleashed a fatal curse. Anyone else, it would have killed instantly, but I was the greatest among the Athraskani, and my magic was enough to hold it at bay. Temporarily." He sighed and shook his head. "It takes every bit of my magic to keep the curse from killing me outright. But even my power isn't great enough to break the curse, only to slow it. It has been eating away at me for some time now. My hair fell out, I've lost weight, and my joints hurt like hot coals at the end of the day."

Arrow stiffened. "You're dying."

His mouth twisted wryly. "Yes. When we left the Sanctum, I thought that I might have six months left--but only if I retained my full power to battle the curse. Every time I cast another spell, though, I divert some of that power away. Essentially, my choice now is to either risk dying tonight if you can't staunch the wound, or else use my magic to heal myself. By saving my life today, I remove several other days from the end of my span."

Arrow winced, pity stirring her heart unexpectedly. "Not much of a choice."

His face closed to her, like a mask clicking into place. "I have no need for sympathy."

"Don't need it--or have never had it?"

TYRANT MOON is available in ebook, trade paperback, and hardcover here:
http://www.mundania.com/book.php?title=Tyrant+Moon
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-- Lynda Again

Elaine is offering one lucky reader a PDF version of any book from her backlist who leaves a comment and emails her at elainecorvidae@gmail.com (be sure to put Star-Crossed Romance in the Subject Line). Make sure you get your entry in by Friday when she draws the lucky reader's name.

Readers can find a complete list of her books here:
http://www.onecrow.net/Books.htm

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Too Connected?

Since I didn't post on Friday, my assigned day, because life has been crazy post-honeymoon, I decided to post a little something today. Though it doesn't compare to Lynda's fabulous Halloween digital memo!

Yesterday and today, I pondered if we are too connected. As in we constantly have to have the latest updates on everything. I mean just think of the two hottest website--Facebook and Twitter. All they do is give members real time info on what their friends are doing. Did anyone stop to think what that info could be used for? Especially since it's not just individuals. Lately I've been seeing more and more corporations and large entities getting their cyber feet wet to gain customers.

In fact, the other night I saw a special on a company that only sales space to advertisers on buses in China. They make billions and have tons of clamoring clients, because the advertisers have a captive audience to sell their wares too. Plus it's cheaper than print or other forms of ad space. I was also astounded by a radio show that announced one minute long commercial on the hottest TV show (Sunday Night Football) cost over half a million dollars. That's 250,000! That's a lot of zeroes! Are you pondering, like me, what else someone could do with that kind of loot?

Make several of those annoying blinking ads on the bars of Facebook, lol. But you also have to wonder why are they going to tv? Because it's become society's babysitter? Because it's how the majority of us unwind at night, unless of course some of us are reading. Yet even that has gone hi-tech. Just yesterday I got to touch a Sony Reader. Yes it was cool, being able to whizz over text and store tons of titles in the space taken up by a paperback and a half. But there was no comparison to the feel of a real book, nor did the clicking ease my nerves like the little clack of sporadically turning pages.

At present I'm listening to the clickity-click of my fingers on my 10 year old laptop who can't compare with today's standards and is beginning to show years of dedicated wear and tear. But I love the feel of her keys, and can see the shine of where my fingers have tapped out text. Though now we (my hubby and I) have a new PC baby...a netbook. Sure he's cute--black with cute little curly Q's on his top, his keyboard is almost standard, he's fast and a lot lighter than my dear old standby. But it begs the question--why the need? So we can take them along on planes, trains and automobiles? So we can walk into a restaurant and be accosted by YouTube videos and music streaming from someone's speakers while they surf without courtesy on wi-fi?

Don't get me wrong, I delighted in having access during my honeymoon to look at pictures, check my e-mail and look up directions. But when you have bevies of people who can't use etiquette while on their cellphones, are they really going to on their minis? I don't believe anything has irked me so much of late than a man at the local hospital who brought in his laptop and Blackberry, then turned a section of the waiting area into his office. Then people he was with also pulled out their phones to text...inside the hospital where there are rules about using the devices! I sat there thinking about my sister having surgery and how I had work to do, but had the loving decency to leave my laptop at home because I needed to be there for her. I know people have deadlines and jobs, but really? Does the man have to make sales calls in the waiting room for everyone to hear and then turn our soap opera off so he can check the latest Money Market news?

Sure technology is terrific when you're stuck and need to call a hero, but I think people should stop and look at the flipside. Would we talk more, would we really look and listen to what's around us? Better yet, would we have less stress if we weren't always connected? And if we're this connected now, what will the next wave in the future hold?



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Happy Halloween!

Let's see...
Spider web and spiders is up.
Skeletons are hanging.
Bats are flying.
Spooky music is playing.
Fog is ready to go.
Eerie laughter, check.
Coffin is on the porch.
Mummy is leaning in the corner.
Mmm, what else?





Right. Lightning.






Candy treats for the kidlets tonight and savory treats for the bigger kids, lol. We're having a costume party. I'm a witch-doctor (witch hat with medical scrubs), hubby is a corn-stalker (hockey mask wearing corn cob).

What kind of costumes are you wearing? Or would you wear if you could?



A vampire?



Or a witch?

Whatever you'll be, I hope you have a delightfully frightful Halloween! And when you get pooped out from doing the Monster Mash, rest yourself by playing this very funny Tic Tac Toe game. It has sound (spooky stuff for the holiday) so be sure to turn your speakers up.

TIC-TAC-TOE

Have a great evening!






Lynda
Coming soon - Heartstone, Mundania Press

Life Gets in the Way

I'm sorry there isn't a long and articulate post today. We've had some bad news...my husband's cousin passed away so we're heading out of town for the funeral. And his best guy friend passed away just yesterday so we need to stop there before we go.

What's really sad is that my husband says he and his friend always talked about getting together soon but both just kept putting it off. Now it's too late.

If you have friends or family you haven't seen in a while, call them. Visit them. Don't let it be too late for you.

Star Light, Star Bright...Interstellar Interview with Linnea Sinclair

Linnea Sinclair is a former news reporter and a retired private detective who yearned for more than a news story to "hold the presses" or case files that served as night time reading. For her, the role of starship captain was a dream long before Captain Kirk boarded the Enterprise, and today she's living her fantasy!

When she's not tinkering with sci-fi mechanics, she can be found plotting award winning novels that have garnered her honors in the FF&P's PRISM, a Paranormal Romance Staff Top Pick, the Best of the Year for Science Fiction Romance, a Romantic Times Magazine Reviewer's Choice Award, and the PEARL for Science Fiction and Fantasy. If you're trying to catch her, she docks seasonally in Florida or Ohio with her dear husband and furchildren.

I don't believe I've had the pleasure of meeting Linnea in person, unless she was one of those blurred faces introduced as a friend of a friend (Colby Hodge) in Atlanta several years ago. And though I'm not the sharpest tool in the box, I'm certain I'd remember meeting this lady if our paths had crossed! Last year, I was mapping a course to CRW in Charlotte to hear one of her legendary seminars. However, those plans were nixed when we got word she'd been nominated for a RITA at the RWA National Convention! Can't blame a woman for kicking butt and taking names in sci-fi, now can we?

Since then, I've delighted in exchanging e-mails and posts with her on Myspace and Facebook. Linnea is truly an awe-inspiring woman who loves to share her passion for sci-fi romance. I will admit when she said yes to this interview I did a little dance. I'm so pleased she was able to share her insights with us today amid deadlines and life's celebrations (birthdays and wedding anniversaries). Linnea has fought her way to the bridge, and is poised among some stellar peers to take us all on a wild romantic ride among the stars! I, for one, can't wait to have my boots knocked off again!



What drove you to write sci-fi action romance when the sub-genres forefathers were mostly men?

The genre of SF’s forefathers were mostly men (or women writing under male aliases), but the SUB-genre of SFR has, as its founders, predominantly women. The Galaxy Express has a terrific listing on the blog’s left side (http://www.thegalaxyexpress.net/). Some of the 1980s authors include Jayne Ann Krentz, Janelle Taylor, and Flora Speer. However, the romances written by Flora Speer and Janelle Taylor usually fall under the futuristic label, rather than SFR—the difference being the ratio of romance to SF/Action.

In the 1980s, authors who wrote more SF with a strong romance subplot included Lois McMaster Bujold, Debra Doyle and James Macdonald, Jean Lorrah, Jacqueline Lichtenberg, and the writing team of Sharon Lee and Steve Miller. Most of those would be shelved in SF. It really wasn’t until the 1990s when SFR began to be noticed as a sub-genre somewhat different from futuristics and SF, with the advent of authors like Catherine Asaro and Lisanne Norman (on the SF side) and Nancy Cane, Dara Joy, and Tess Mallory on the futuristic romance side.

If this sounds confusing, know that it is. Which is exactly why I began writing it. I couldn’t find in futuristics the SF element or the world building element I wanted. I couldn’t find in SF novels the romance element I wanted. So I wrote the stories I wanted to read but couldn’t find (since shelving was so haphazard and the Internet wasn’t around to guide me), which turn out to be a fairly even split of SF/romance (which is the recipe for SFR).

I’m also a Trek/Star Wars/Battlestar fan. I wrote Trek fan fic for decades and many of those stories had strong romantic elements (as is common in fan fic.) But I wanted the adventure and excitement of other star systems and alien worlds as well.

Today I still read more SF than romance.

When did you imagine the concept for GABRIEL'S GHOST and lay the beginning of the Guthrie men's adventures?

GABRIEL’S GHOST is really the story of Gabriel Ross (“Sully”) Sullivan and Chasidah (“Chaz”) Bergen. Philip Guthrie—Chaz’s ex-husband, has only a minor role to play in GABRIEL’S and a bit larger role in SHADES OF DARK. But neither book—which are books #1 and #2 in the Dock Five universe—can really be considered Guthrie men stories. HOPE’S FOLLY is Admiral Philip Guthrie’s story, and his book grew out of his minor roles in GABRIEL’S and SHADES. REBELS AND LOVERS (March 2010) is Devin Guthrie’s story—he’s a completely new character who doesn’t appear in any previous book.

The rationale behind this was that Bantam wasn’t keen on sequels (same characters/different story line) but related books (same world, new characters). I would be perfectly happy doing five books on Chaz and Sully, but that wouldn’t make my editor happy. So I had to pull in new characters. I am going to try to do one more Chaz and Sully book, though, to wrap up the set, as I really feel the Dock Five universe is Chaz’s and Sully’s story at heart.

Chaz and Sully showed up on my computer screen about ten years ago when—having retired from being a private investigator—I signed up for creative writing classes, just for fun (and to keep my brain from rotting—my degree in journalism notwithstanding). One of the class assignments was to write a few pages based on an emotion: love, hate, jealousy, fear, etc. I chose fear and…

Only fools boast they have no fears. I thought of that as I pulled the blade of my dagger from the Takan guard’s throat, my hand shaking, my heart pounding in my ears. Light from the setting sun filtered down through the tall trees around me. It flickered briefly on the dark gold blood that bubbled from the wound, staining the Taka’s coarse fur. I felt a sliminess between my fingers and saw that same ochre stain on my skin…

…is what came out. If you’re dragging out a copy of the book and note that the above isn’t exactly word-for-word what you see on the page, you’re right. That’s closer to the original that was quickly dashed off back then.

I had about five pages, which sat for, oh, a year or three. Then one day the rest of the story just exploded in my brain. I wrote GABRIEL’S in thirty-four exhausting days. Chaz and Sully wouldn’t leave me alone. It was wonderful.

Because the story happened so quickly, I can’t say I had any particular reason or plot in mind. Or was more that the characters were telling me what was happening. However, that was a point in time when vampire romances were super hot and popular. I didn’t want to do that, yet I wanted a story or plot point that would interest readers of those kinds of romances. I wanted a hero who was tortured by the very things that made him strong but I didn’t want to write a vampire or werewolf. (It’s also not a ghost story, despite the title.) Without getting in to spoilers, I’ll say it has a shape-shifter element but it’s not vampire or werewolf in space. If a reader is also a Deep Space Nine fan, he or she will also likely find GABRIEL’S a worthy read.

GABRIEL’S won the prestigious RITA® award for Best Paranormal Romance, by the way. That was a huge surprise for me but more over, I was glad to see SFR get the recognition.

Why is it important to you to incorporate strong women who can hold their own--Chaz and Rya--in all your novels?

I don’t set out to write strong women per se. I write characters appropriate to their worlds. If you wrote about a female police officer in a contemporary novel, chances are she’d have several stronger elements in her personality because of her “world,” her career. I’m not saying there aren’t timid female cops out there. But in general that career attracts women who are more confident and aggressive.

Chaz Bergren is a former military patrol ship captain. Rya Bennton is a former Imperial Security (think: Secret Service or US Marshall) officer. Captain Trilby Elliot (FINDERS KEEPERS) is a starfreighter captain (think: long-haul trucker). Tasha Sebastian, Gillie Davre and Jorie Mikkalah are also all military. The very nature of their careers defines portions of their personalities. With Chaz especially, she was a military brat, with both parents in the military. Her mindset is different from, say, a librarian whose mother was an insurance agent and whose father was a college professor.

With REBELS AND LOVERS, I broke the mold a bit (and yes, my male characters are often military or law enforcement) as Devin Guthrie is, well, a geek. A corporate executive. In my mind, he’s my reluctant hero. He’s far more comfortable in the boardroom than the battlefield. Kaidee Griggs was his corporate pilot but she has an interesting history that gives her more ‘combat’ skills than he has. It was fun reversing roles like that.

I also write strong women because I think women today are stronger. When I was doing my undergraduate and graduate degrees in Criminology, I was one of the few females in the class (I’m talking 1970s). Even when I had my PI agency (1990-2000), I was one of the few female investigators. Today things are different. So I write female characters that (I hope) younger women can aspire to and older women can admire, if not relate to.

Out of all your travels, which has been your most memorable? What other sci-fi/fantasy romance writers do you rub elbows with when you're swapping industry info at conference?

By travels, if you mean writer/reader conferences, probably every RT (Romantic Times BOOKlovers’ Convention) is the most fun one can have with one’s clothes on. There are still a lot of cons I’ve yet to attend, especially in the SF genre (though I did do ARCHON the year it was the NASFIC.) I’d love to do DragonCon. The problem is that when I’m at cons, I’m not writing. I generally teach workshops and/or host parties at the cons, and that takes up a lot of time—not just when there but in prep time. I’m already prepping for the 2010 RT in Columbus OH, and that’s not until next April.

At cons, I love to hang with Robin D Owens and Susan Grant. Both are terrific gals who, like me, are owned by cats. We talk writing. We talk cats. Isabo Kelly is a dear friend and one I spend time with at every RT. And Stacey Kade is not only my crit partner but one of my closest friends, even though I’m older enough to be her mom. Stacey and her husband often visit me and my husband in Florida, so we’re friends outside of the con circuit. You’ll also find me in the bar with J.C. Wilder, Jade Lee, Janet Miller, Catherine Asaro, Liddy Midnight, and Colby Hodge. Susan Kearney and I both live in Florida and run into each a lot a fair bit. Same with Nancy Cohen/Nancy Cane and Lucienne Diver.

Two of my biggest fan-girl moments came at ARCHON, though, when author Barbara Hambly (genuflect, genuflect) asked me to share lunch with her, and author Jacqueline Lichtenberg (genuflect, genuflect) had me join her and author Jean Lorrah at dinner. I’ve read Barbara Hambly for years—she’s arguably one of my favorite fantasy authors. And Jacqueline Lichtenberg is one of the most brilliant women I’ve ever met.

At the RT bookfairs I often get to sit next to author Pat Simmons (the tables are alphabetical). She writes multi-cultural inspirationals. We get along fabulously and I look forward to funning-around with her each year. I also enjoy her books—I read outside of my genre a lot—and I just picked up her crit partner’s—Lisa Y. Watson’s—debut novel, WATCH YOUR BACK. I know Lisa from RT because she always comes by our section in the bookfair to make sure Pat and I are being sufficiently naughty.

I’ve also had great times sitting next to author Nalini Singh at bookfairs. She’s a fabulous person with a wicked sense of humor.

How would you describe a perfect writing day? Do you have a favorite "furchild" keeping you company or a perfect snack that keeps you energized?

Lately, I’ve had no perfect writing days—life has become rather complicated in the past few years with family illnesses and other things that, when the phone rings, you have to deal with. I try to write daily—it’s my day job, so to speak—but more realistically I get three to four good writing days a week. In both our Florida and Ohio homes I have my own office (though in Florida I share the office with my husband).

We currently have four furchildren: Miss Doozy, Jimmy-James, Chester, and his brother, Brady. We lost my beloved Daq-cat (Tank the Furzel in GAMES OF COMMAND) this past June. That devastated me, as he died young and from cancer. As I type this, Jimmy-James (he’s a ten year old Maine Coon we rescued in July, after Daq passed) is sprawled on his window perch. Chester just left my lap (I was typing and not petting him enough—bad mommy!). Brady is sleeping in a cat bed in the corner of the office. Miss Doozy is probably under the bed because my housekeeper is here today and I can hear the vacuum cleaner running downstairs. Photos of all my felines are on my site: http://www.linneasinclair.com/cat.html

My favorite snack right now is a nice bottle of South African Pinotage, though I’m also partial to Paso Robles (CA) red wines. Oh, and Kim Crawford (New Zealand) Sauvignon Blanc.

What's on your horizon for the near future? Any signings, appearances or other info fans need to know?

I’m teaching a writing workshop and then participating in a multi-author booksigning in the Orlando (FL) area on November 7th. The workshop is for the Central Florida Romance Writers chapter of RWA. Details are on my site in NEWS:

http://www.linneasinclair.com/news.html

The direct link to the booksigning at the Altamonte Mall is here: http://www.cfrwa.com/?page_id=47

The signing is an annual event and proceeds are donated to charity. Authors attending include Bonnie Vanak, Nancy Cohen, Lucienne Diver, Gennita Low and more!

My appearances and workshops are always listed on that page. I also have a full slate of on-line workshops starting in January 2010. Most of the workshops are open to anyone—I love helping readers become writers!

Want to win some cool "swag"? Post a comment or question for Linnea and you could win a HOPE'S FOLLY tote bag or a multi-book tote emblazoned with all Linnea's covers since FINDERS KEEPERS!

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