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Dec. 2 '06:
FAQ ...

I thought I’d answer some of the Frequently Asked Questions about my Las Vegas Vampires series. It’s hard for me to believe Bit The Jackpot is just hitting the shelves considering I’m in the middle of writing the fourth book… I want readers to know what I know! ;-) But hopefully you’ll enjoy reading the series as much as I’ve enjoyed writing it. These characters have just taken over and dictated their stories to me.

So, without giving away important plot points, here’s some FAQ on the series:

1) How many books are in the series?

Right now, I’m contracted for four books, and I’m hoping for a fifth, because I have a story idea I want to pursue involving a character who appears in the third book, Bled Dry.

2) What is the release schedule?

High Stakes (Alexis and Ethan) August ’06, Bit The Jackpot (Cara and Seamus) December ’06, Bled Dry (Brittany and Corbin) May ’07, and Sucker Bet (Gwenna and Nate) January '08.

3) Will Ringo, Gwenna, Smith, or Williams get their own stories?

Ringo will be a character in every book, though he probably won’t ever has his own book… he swings both good and bad and has killed people for money — not hero material. However, I think he’s a very interesting guy with lots of inner demons, and will play a pivotal role in future events. Gwenna will have her own book, Sucker Bet. Smith and Williams are not really attractive or appealing men, which becomes more obvious in Bit The Jackpot, so no, they won’t have a book either.

4) Who won the presidential election?

That is revealed in Bled Dry!

Visit the vampire band!

Sept. 16 '06:
Let the good times roll!

Wow, did I have a GREAT time in New Orleans!!! It was the Heather Graham Writers for New Orleans paranormal conference, and trust me, I'll be back if she does it again next year. I had never met Heather before, and she is very nice, very fun. I love that her family all goes to conferences with her. I also met Christine Feehan for the first time and she was so sweet and personable. :-) Cherry Adair I know from the WalMart tour, and she was a hoot as usual. I also met lots of other great authors for the first time. Kathleen Pickering is a blast, and Bonnie Vanak was a great sport, letting Kathy Love and I drag her around Bourbon St.

Aside from the conference/writer activities, we did a ghost carriage tour. It was a new perspective to see the French Quarter from a carriage... so beautiful at night. And we went into St. Louis #1 cemetery at night. I thought it would feel eerie but it didn't… just empty, really.

Kathy Love and I went on a plantation tour of Oak Alley, where they filmed Interview With a Vampire (my second time there), and we got an abridged Katrina tour. While there is still a lot of damage, and FEMA trailers dotting the landscape, I could see definite progress from when I had been there in March.

We also went out into the swamp and saw a dozen alligators. The Cajun tour guide had a baby alligator and I actually held it- see the pic for proof (also proof that it's humid there... yikes, my hair!)

New writer friend Jan Zimlich let us tour her friend's house in the Quarter... it screamed Vampire's House. <g> Very, very cool.

Kathy Love and I spent a lot of time on Bourbon Street listening to karaoke and 80s cover bands (we are mulling over some fun RT ideas inspired by all the 80s music).

I also had the shock of a lifetime when I saw a 50 year old man wearing nothing but Mardi Gras beads as a thong on Bourbon St. :-D

Laissez Le Bon Temps Rouler!

More trip photos posted on the gallery page.

 

August 6'06:
Vamping Atlanta

I've just gotten back from the RWA conference in Atlanta, and it was great to see so many of you at the conference and the signing! We had a wonderful lunch with the Vamps and Scamps (thanks to Heather's hubby for the sign) and Bookjunkys, and the V&S authors made big plans for next year's RT convention. That's us on the luggage rack... right after the bellman yelled at us.

See more photos from the RWA Conference on my gallery page!

 

June 29 '06:
Vampires in my past...

Apparently I’ve been interested in vampires for a long time. I recently found a character sketch I did for a vampire hero when I was ten years old, with the notation at the top, Make a story out of it, in bubble letters. Some of the highlights, typed verbatim from my childhood notes:

1. Alexander Bloodworth Tuttle III is a blood-thirsty vampire.

2. His appearance is deadly. He is tall, skinny, and weird. His face is dead white, his eyes are cursing, and under his red-black lips sharp white fangs hang.

3. His habits of drinking blood cause him no harm because he always gets away.

4. He lives in a four room house under ground on Main Street.

5. The first room is his bedroom where a rectangle coffin lays. The second is the kitchen-lab. In here he has jugs of blood marked A, B, or negative. The third room is the living room where there is a red silk couch and a coffee table. On the coffee table is a famous Bloodworth recipe for bloody-mary pie. Behind the fourth door is odds and ends any vampire would keep. For enstince, rotten blood.

Only one misspelling… not bad for a ten year old! I had to laugh when I read this. I’m not sure which I love the most— the cursing eyes or the Bloody-Mary pie. He sounds like a great guy— both mysterious and domestic. And like all good creatures of the night, he always gets away, retreating to his red silk couch after an evening of stealing A, B, or negative blood from hapless victims with his sharp white fangs. Perfect alpha hero— in charge, yet sensitive at the same time.

I never did write a story for Alexander… I got distracted and instead wrote a ten-page creation about aliens coming down and abducting all the boys ages eight to sixteen in my town. Wishful thinking??

 

June 6 '06:
When reading gets you in trouble...

When I was in West Virginia for the Ohio River Festival of Books, I met this adorable woman named Gretchen who told me I was responsible for almost getting her arrested. Say, what? <g>

It turns out Gretchen was reading Bad Boys in Black Tie to keep from getting carsick while she was on a road trip with her friend April. She was laughing out loud at CJ and Wyatt in my novella “Miss Extreme Congeniality,” making April jealous that she was stuck staring at the road and couldn’t enjoy it, so Gretchen started reading out loud. Driver April got so into listening to the story, she couldn’t concentrate on the road, and wound up pulling over on the expressway so they could sit and finish the book. Neither saw the Kentucky state trooper pull up behind them. <g>

Startled, Gretchen tried to shove the book down the side of the seat when the trooper came to the window. Of course, that is a serious red flag for a law enforcement official, and he demanded she raise her hands and show what she was holding. Gretchen complied and he took the book. After the trooper spent several long minutes perusing Bad Boys In Black Tie, he shook his head, and told them to quit reading and move on down the road.

Too funny!! I can just picture that trooper trying to maintain his cop face as he read. Sorry I almost got you hauled in, Gretchen and April.

 

May 10'06:
Writers in the wild...and a Bad Boy Quiz

My local chapter of RWA, NEORWA, just had our annual retreat into the woods for a weekend in April. Picture twenty-five women in four cabins in the wilds of Ohio roughing it while they talk about writing, laugh about writing, and occasionally actually do some writing.

Okay, so we don't exactly rough it... the cabins are heated with indoor plumbing and a fireplace. <g> And we bring enough food to feed a small village *and* order pizza, but technically it is the woods... there are trees, after all. The setting is only backdrop anyway. What I love about these weekends is the opportunity to step away from all responsibilities and just be a writer, with great friends who understand that I'm not insane when I talk about my characters as if they were actually alive. ;-)

It was a productive weekend—my current heroine, Marley, reached a pivotal point in the plot, and I ate a lot of Butter Danish cookies. What more could you ask for?

The pic is NEORWA on its annual retreat to Punderson State Park in Ohio. I'm in the picture somewhere. <g>

 

May 4'06:
The Big Easy

My trip to New Orleans for the Novelists, Inc. conference was a blast! I went early with my husband to do some sightseeing for a future book, and I'm so glad we had a chance to tour the city. Everywhere we went, people wanted to talk about Katrina and the aftermath, and it was a humbling and amazing experience to hear their stories and their determination to start over. Everyone was friendly and gracious and very grateful for our business, and they wanted us to tell everyone back home that New Orleans is open and waiting for you. :-)

And yes, the beignets are back at Cafe du Monde... Susan Gable and I walked down to Jackson Square and then got ourselves some beignets as a reward. Exercise is not its own reward in my book. <g>

I've posted more New Orleans pics on the gallery page, including the wonderful Oak Alley Plantation (where Interview With a Vampire was filmed) and ...XXX...the tomb of New Orleans' famous Voodoo Queen!

March 7'06:
The Story behind the Story

Readers always ask me where I get my ideas for my books. The truth is, I'm not really sure. They come from reading, observing people, from distant memories, from magazine articles and pictures, and from asking a lot of "What If?" type questions.

LADY OF THE LAKE takes place on Lake Erie, which is where I grew up. My parents used to take us to a cottage on the beach every summer, and we used to "walk the rocks," big boulders hugging the shore of the lake. We also used to explore the abandoned lighthouses and go fishing. When my own kids were toddlers, my dad already had toddler sized fishing poles ready for them.

So writing a story on the water was logical to me, and I think it partnered in my head with a story my friend told me. When she was a teenager and out on their family's boat, they anchored to go swimming. A wave knocked her bikini top off and she bobbed around for a minute not knowing what to do. Her family was ready to go and her brother was yelling at her to get on the boat. She stayed in the water from the neck down and asked her brother to get her mom. Impatient, like a typical older teenage brother, he reached over and yanked her by the armpits, intending to pull her back into the boat and be done with it. Instead he got an eyeful of her bare chest, yelled, and dropped her back in the water, traumatized. <g> That story made me laugh and I thought What If instead of a brother and sister it was a hero pulling a heroine into a boat?

Poor Dylan never stands a chance once he rescues Violet. :-)

 

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