Cait London | Psychic Triplets

How do writers get their stories? Much of our research is built into us, and we just need to find a story line in which to place it. I get my story ideas from everywhere: from my title or databases, from anything I see in the news/television, anything I see driving along the side of the road, a photograph, a drawing, or by just generally observing people.

I've just finished the third story in the psychic triplets’ contemporary trilogy. The first story concerns Claire, the empath and the youngest, in AT THE EDGE. The second is Tempest's story, A STRANGER'S TOUCH (4/08); she uses her hands to determine the history of an object. Leona's story (11/08), the one I've just finished is as yet untitled, and concerns her abilities as a precognitive, or “precog”.

Where did I get the idea for this trilogy? Since I am the mother of three daughters, I had some idea of their interaction. Their birth order also determines some of their personality traits. Claire, our empath, is basically in seclusion, in a cottage-type situation and she is a handcrafter, creating designer handbags. Since I am also an artist and have done handcrafting, including sewing, I understood Claire's occupation. Many of the objects in Claire's home, are similar to those within my own home. I surround myself with objects that please me in color and style, but also those odd ones that I think may hold an idea for a future story.

Claire’s Celtic jewelry, created by her sister, Tempest, is based from a few pieces someone gifted to me. Claire’s decorative Hummingbird which hangs from her kitchen window is a tidbit I picked up from my sister, who feeds them. Neil Olafson/hero is a workman, also an occupation in my family; I've seen the blue smoke from a chainsaw, such as what Neil uses.

If you take the connection well noted between twins, and expand it to triplets, add an ancient Celtic seer’s abilities that have descended to those triplets, you have Cait London’s Aislings. My own interests lean toward the Vikings, another element, but much of the material in my books is based on my experiences and interests.

IMHO, a writer needs to get out from behind his/her desk to enrich stories. There are lots of ideas floating around, and all a writer has to do is tap into them. While some of them may be universal ideas, each writer places their own unique style/experience into the stories.

Watch for A STRANGER'S TOUCH, coming in April 2008. But next on my publishing schedule is EVERY GIRL'S GUIDE TO..., a re-issue in September 2007.


Cait London
http://www.caitlondon.com/

Cathy Spangler | Lions and tigers and . . . Sentinels! Oh, my!

I admit it. When I was growing up, I loved watching the Wizard of Oz, which was shown on TV once a year. I adored the magical and fantasy elements, and of course the HEA ending. But then I had teethed on fairy tales and already had magic, mystical creatures, resourceful heroines, and hunky, princely heroes firmly ingrained in my imagination. Then when I was eleven, I came across the book "Many Mansions" by Gina Cerminara, which was about the psychic Edgar Cayce. That was the beginning of my life-long interest in metaphysical subjects and in the Cayce readings. I was especially drawn to his readings about Atlantis (over 700 of them).


So it’s no wonder that my books embraced romance and the paranormal from the very start. After I wrote the Shielder series (science fiction romance), I turned to romantic urban fantasy, and found the perfect venue for my fascination with Atlantis and all things paranormal. Enter the Sentinels, reincarnated Altantians whose sole purpose is to track Belians (evil Atlantians also coming to Earth to wreck havoc). Both Sentinels and Belians have superhuman powers, and they’re waging an ageless battle of good versus evil. But wait—there’s hope for our heroic Sentinels, in the form of a small group of humans called conductors. A matched conductor is always the opposite sex of the Sentinel, and able to psychically link with that Sentinel and enhance his or her ability to track Belians. But there’s a catch—the conduction process raises powerful sexual energies—and many conductions include sex.


Oh boy, oh boy! Now we have Atlantian myth, magic, superheroes, combustible sexual attraction, and chilling suspense—all combined in romantic fantasy thrillers I call the Sentinel Series.


Book one, TOUCHED BY DARKNESS, sets the stage, in Zorro, Texas, a small town in the Hill Country. Conductor Dr. Kara Cantrell has fled from a dark supernatural underworld, and is trying to live a normal life with her young son, Alex. Yet Alex is anything but normal. Like his deceased father, he’s a Sentinel, and his powers are growing. Not only that, but a Belian is stalking the citizens of Zorro, and is being tracked by tall, dark, and dangerous Sentinel Damien Morgan. Damien instantly recognizes Kara as a matched conductor, and her son Alex as a fledgling Sentinel. Now his challenge is to convince Kara to help him track the Belian, and to let him train her son for his destiny. Not to mention dealing with the powerful sexual urges between Damien and Kara, and putting his life on the line when the Belian attacks. All in a day’s work for a Sentinel.


Book two, TOUCHED BY FIRE, will be available October 2, and moves on to ultra-sexy Luke Paxton, a leather-clad Sentinel who drives a Harley. Luke is tracking a particularly heinous Belian, a serial bomber creating a high body count. He finds help in the form of conductor Marla Reynolds, except she’s not going for the Sentinel/conductor thing. Since a brutal attack on her sister eleven years ago, Marla has been emotionally frozen and has insulated herself from the world and from relationships with men. Then she meets Luke in a Houston bar and is upended by an intense attraction she doesn’t understand. Of course Luke does—it’s the sexual pull of a Sentinel/conductor match. Luke sets out to convince Marla to help him focus his psychic powers and do his job. He’ll do whatever it takes—even if he has to kidnap her—and he does just that. Despite the friction between them, It doesn’t take Marla to come around and work with Luke, especially after she finds herself mentally linked with the Belian. As they track this unimaginable evil from Houston to Austin to Dallas, more players are drawn into the story, including Marla’s sister Julia, and Luke’s boss, the powerful Sanctioned Adam Masters. When Marla and Luke finally give into the sizzling sexual pull, they find themselves more deeply involved than they had ever planned or expected. Plus there are a few other surprises along the way. Life is never dull with Sentinels around.


Book three, TOUCHED BY LIGHT, will be available in early 2009, and is Julia and Adam’s story. Expect some explosive fireworks.


On my website, I have cool information on Atlantis and Edgar Cayce, a glossary of terms for the Sentinel universe, book excerpts and other fun stuff. Please visit me at http://www.catherinespangler.com/.


Back to The Wizard of Oz. It will remain one of my favorite movies, and I’ll always root for the good guys and the HEA. Meanwhile, in a world where Sentinels and Belians and conductors are secretly moving among us mere humans, I think it’s safe to say “Toto, we’re not in Kansas any more!”

Cathy Spangler

Kelley St. John | Cajun Cousins not to be Missed

I’m so excited to be guest blogging on Fresh Fiction today! Thanks so much for having me! I’m Kelley St. John, and I write sexy, sassy contemporaries for Grand Central Publishing (formerly Warner) and Harlequin Blaze. This year, I’ve begun The Sexth Sense, my Harlequin Blaze series about six Cajun cousins who happen to have an interesting family legacy – helping ghosts find their way to the other side. All of the current Vicknair mediums are in their twenties, at the peak of their lives, and to-die-for sexy. Oh, but don’t think that the sizzle stops with the family; those ghosts have plenty of heat going on as well. I’m having a ball writing about the Vicknair family and am thrilled that Harlequin has also purchased the next three books in the series to come out in 2008.

Here is the book trailer/teaser for the series, if you want to check it out:

See this video at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Oh, and if you like the Louisiana plantation setting, be sure to register for the Louisiana plantation vacation giveaway at my website. I can’t wait to give one reader a trip to the gorgeous Oak Alley Plantation in the heart of Cajun country.

After the ghost stories hit the shelves, my fourth book this year comes out in November from Grand Central (Warner). TO CATCH A CHEAT is about a woman who has a pattern for dating the “terminally unfaithful” and starts a website to oust cheaters. Trouble is, one cheater fights back, creating an opposing website for ousting women who lie. The websites in the book, www.theguycheats.com and www.thegirllies.com are actual up and running. Check them out to find out more about their web battle and to register for a $500 spa getaway.

Let me know what you think about ghosts, cheaters, or hey, anything else you want to chat about. And when the day is done, one commenter will receive autographed copies of REAL WOMEN DON’T WEAR SIZE 2, KISS AND DWELL and GHOSTS AND ROSES.

Happy Reading…and Blogging!

Kelley St. John
www.kelleystjohn.com

Karna Small Bodman | Up Close Political Thrills and Suspense

I was scheduled to be in the staff car with White House Press Secretary Jim Brady on March 30, 1981 – the day of the assassination attempt against President Reagan. I was Jim’s Deputy at the time. At the last minute, Jim said, “There’s a lot of work to do today – a lot of press calls to return. Why don’t you stay back. I can handle this one alone – you go tomorrow. This is just a speech to some union group over at the Hilton. I’ll be back around 2:30.” As we all know, he never came back. That day, along with many others will always be seared in my memory, and when I sat down to write my first novel CHECKMATE, I spent time reflecting on those personal experiences, figuring I had a ton of material for a series of political thrillers.

Authors are always asked, “Where do you get your ideas?” Of course, any daily newspaper offers a veritable Petri dish of plot points, but I decided that “being there” is even better. When I later took the job as Senior Director of the National Security Council, we were dealing with crises almost on a daily basis – any one of which could be turned into a pretty good novel: the attempted assassination of the Pope, the terrorist attack on the cruise ship, “Achille Lauro,” the shooting down of the Korean jetliner with an American Congressman on board (I use that one in the sequel, GAMBIT, out next February), the explosion of the space shuttle with the school teacher on board as well as the usual conflicts with Congress.

The actual inspiration for CHECKMATE President Reagan’s announcement of his program to develop a missile defense system (“Star Wars” as some dubbed it). So I put together a story about a beautiful young scientist who invents a breakthrough technology for a missile defense system, foreign agents trying to steal it, a handsome National Security Council staffer trying to help her, and a lecherous Congressman more interested in her bod than funding her project (just trying to make it authentic!)

I wanted to weave in a romantic sub-plot – always a challenge in a fast-paced thriller. After all, how quickly can they get together when dealing with a count-down? But check my website: www.karnabodman.com for more on the story. I also keep the romance going in GAMBIT where a love triangle develops involving the charismatic Vice President of the U.S. Bottom line: with these stories, I want readers (men as well as women) to feel like White House “insiders” showing scenes in the Oval Office, the Situation Room and providing a seat at classified briefings. As George Bernard Shaw said, “The best way to get your point across is to entertain.” And that’s exactly what I’m trying to do!

Now, I’ve been on a crazy book tour with over 80 speeches/events for groups around the country (my husband says I’m certifiable!) Again, there are details of many events on my website: www.karnabodman.com. If you’re nearby – please stop and say hello or drop me a note. I’d love to be in touch.

Karna Small Bodman