Sara Reyes | Waiting for Ike..

Saturday is my day to blog to tell you all about my week's adventures...well, unfortunately, living in North Texas for the past few days we've been consumed by the approach of Ike. So, my attention has been scattered to say the very least. At least we are now very well stocked with lots of gallons of water, ice in the freezer and sandwich meats. If the electricity and gas go out, we'll be using the grill for cooking. Fortunately, I guess, although I've always considered it not a blessing in the past, we don't live in a low-lying area. No creeks or gulches or ditches near by and our trees are stumpy little things, so the only bad thing is loss of electricity and the possibility of the roof flying off. And no Internet. But I digress...

Terry Brooks
Originally uploaded by freshfiction

This week in books...we went to see Terry Brooks at the Star-Telegram Evening with an Author event at Casa Manana in Fort Worth. Getting from Dallas to Fort Worth on a week day evening is always an adventure through at least three bad bad traffic areas...and fifty miles. But some authors are worth the trek and our companions have to drive another 30 miles to their home east of Dallas, so you know it had to be a really serious event. And it was! Terry Brooks was funny, irreverent and a great interviewee. Jeff Guinn, long time book reviewer for the Star-Telegram, knows how to make authors feel at ease and then grills them nicely so the audience feels like they really get to know the author and how they tick. And the audience came up with some great questions during the Q&A. I really like the one where you could feel the fan's fear of sleeping after reading one of Brooks' books! Mr. Brooks was so compelling and the signing line SO long (an additional 90 minutes) that I ended up buying the complete Genisis trilogy!

Sarah Bird and Meagan Kirk
Originally uploaded by freshfiction

The next author was Sarah Bird who drove from Fort Worth to Plano for her signing. Unfortunately for her, she also had torrential downpours! And had to deal with our infamous toll roads. Not a pleasant combination ever!

But Sarah was up for the challenge and entertained us in a very informal setting at the Creek Walk Barnes and Noble. We talked about her character, Blythe Young, in HOW PERFECT IS THAT. A truly poisonous and irredeemable heroine. Sarah Bird knows how to create a comedic truly Austenish piece-of-work! Seriously, after reading a Sarah Bird book I frequently say, "only in Austen." But perhaps that is my snobbish North Texas pretense? LOL. Seriously, HOW PERFECT IS THAT is a fast, funny, hysterical read! I highly recommend it for readers who want like to laugh out loud and don't mind an ending that doesn't "end well!" A perfect book club read because there will be TONS of discussion at this one!

So, I'm back to waiting on Ike...think it will be a bust but I'm prepared. I've got a flash light and a stack of books too! Just in case!

Sara Reyes
DFW Tea Readers Groups

Don't miss our Readers Gathering -- Readers 'n ritas. If you've always wanted to join the fun we have, this is the NOT-TO-MISS event of the year! I promise we'll shut down at least one establishment! LOL

Lisa Black | SERENDIPITY AND THE WRITING LIFE

Any writer, I’m sure, has had the experience of a great idea striking them while engaged in an activity that had nothing to do with writing and nothing to do with whatever plot their minds were currently worrying at—like being at your child’s ballet recital and noticing the teacher’s son, pressed into doubling as the sound engineer, hustling back and forth trying to weed that static out of the speaker precariously mounted stage right…suppose this were a ballet competition and not just a chance for parents to see why they’ve been writing checks all year…a particularly competitive stage parent might get very upset over a break in their kid’s music quality…maybe even kill….

Or you’ll be teaching your daughter to knit, guiding her little fingers over the pointy edge of the needle and you realize what a good murder weapon it would be…knitting isn’t as common as it once was but what if there were a group of knitters, a club…easily concealed, innocuous in a normal setting…untraceable? Do knitting needles have serial numbers?

Or just as you are writing the scene where Dudley runs his rival down in the street and wonders how to conceal the damage to his car, a commercial comes on for a revolutionary new car body with flexible bumpers…get a dent and it pops right out.

With me and my latest book, Takeover, this happened a lot. Just as I’d be mulling over some aspect of my plot—in which my forensic scientist Theresa becomes involved in a robbery/ standoff where her homicide detective fiancé is one of the hostages—someone or something would come along and prod me into the next few chapters.

Not the basic plot, which is a robbery gone bad: Theresa goes against the flashy negotiator by giving the robbers something they want in order to free her wounded and dying fiancé. I am embarrassed to report that it grew out of a recurring daydream about gorgeous Rory Cochrane on CSI Miami. The scene never occurred on CSI Miami, but somehow my brain synapsed the cute guy and the brilliant sunlit street and the desperate situation together and worked at it until I had it perfect, not that thoughts involving Rory Cochrane were difficult to return to. Just a daydream. (Okay, fantasy, I admit it, are you happy now?)

From there, I happened to go to the Sleuthfest convention in Fort Lauderdale and happened to attend the Sisters In Crime dinner and happened to sit next to an older man and his wife, people unknown to me. In the course of making polite conversation (my mother did teach me a few manners, despite what others may tell you) it turned out the man had been a New York police officer for years, many of them on the hostage rescue squad, and he had written an article on negotiation that was still used to teach classes at the FBI Academy. Through him I tracked down a copy of it, which I used and listed in my bibliography in the book.

Then, I was sitting on the couch watching TV with my husband (a scene which, unfortunately for our waistlines, occurs all too frequently in my house) when a commercial for the 2006 Harrison Ford movie Firewall aired. I sat up and said aloud, “I won’t make my robbery at an ordinary bank. I’ll make it at the Federal Reserve bank.” Having walked past the Fed in downtown Cleveland many times on my way to the library, I knew it was a large and distinct location. What I didn’t know was that there are only 12 in the country and that a Fed is completely different from your corner savings and loan, so that no one in their right mind would rob a Federal Reserve. This, however, eventually worked in my favor, adding another layer of things-are-not-what-they-seem to the story.

Of course the movie Firewall has absolutely nothing to do with the Federal Reserve. Perhaps the wiring in my brain has a few shorts.

These facts and ideas and half-baked scenes were floating around in my head when we went over our friends’ house for a party one evening. We live in Cape Coral, Florida, so that while my husband and I are in our 40s, most of our friends are retired. I like partying with retirees. They cook well, don’t cancel because they couldn’t find a babysitter, never show up ‘fashionably late’ and have lived long enough to have an endless supply of interesting stories. One such man had been an elevator repairman, one of those guys allowed into even high-security buildings because, of course, no one wants to take the stairs. He could tell me quite a bit about the layout of the Cleveland Fed. Another person at this same party had worked in a bank for all of her professional life and as an examiner for the latter portion of it. She had been to the Fed many times in the course of her work. I had been struggling to come up with a significant title and asked for any inside terminology regarding banks, or robberies, or the Fed. At first she said no, thought about it, got another drink and said, “Well, when we had the kind of robbery where the guy waited in the parking lot for the first employee to show up in the morning, usually the manager, and walked them in at gunpoint to open the safe, we would refer to that as a Morning Glory. When there was a single robber, he was a Lone Gunman, and when there were two or more, we called that a Takeover.”

You never know where or when this kind of help will fall into your lap. Talk to the people you meet, and ask questions. Lots of questions. Even if you don’t even know yet what it is you want to know, ask, talk, and most of all, listen.

Oh, and go to parties.

Lots of parties.

Lisa Black
http://www.lisa-black.com/

Cathy Lamb | Deadlines

I have 15 days to go.

Fifteen days until my deadline for my next book, Henry’s Sisters.

This means that – except for a short jaunt to drop a kid off at school on the east coast – I will spend most of my other days muttering to myself, half-crazed, almost sleepless, and teetering on desperate. I will talk to my characters out loud. They will talk back. They will throw things in my mind and screech and use poor language and make me laugh. I will laugh out loud at inappropriate times at my characters. I will try to avoid this inappropriate laughter during church.

It is most likely I will be in pajamas until 4:00. I won’t wash my hair much and I’ll probably smell stale. I will eat too much and gain weight, that is a given. I will be edgy and mentally hyperventilating.

This is typical for deadline time and I am almost used to this rollicking insanity. When the book is turned in I will go and drink. No, not bottles of rum, you silly. We’re talkin’ decaffeinated mochas with piled up whip cream.

I love to write and I love to read. If my arms suddenly fell off, I am convinced I would write with my nose (Large enough, by the way, to hunt and peck keys, do not be fooled by the photo.)

I am often asked where I get my ideas for my writing…I get zinged by ideas almost every time I venture out of my house. Before I wrote Henry’s Sisters I had two images in my head: Mermaids and a cane. Mermaids and two canes are in this book. I like mermaids and I’d heard about a cool, colorful cane, and things took off from there. There are also three sisters and a brother in Henry’s Sisters. In my family there are three sisters and a brother. See. Creepy.

Where else do I get my ideas? Well, this will sound odd, but if I stare too long at a person, and I’m in character – building mode, I can feel a story formulating in my head all about them. That’s odd, I know. And, if I ever meet you and I stare at you too long, you now know what I’m doing. It would be quite fair of you to yell, “Stop that, this instant, Cathy, you odd freak,” And, I will. (Probably).

I live in suburbia. Now, sometimes suburbia feels like a tight box so I go to Portland. Going to Portland can set my mind on fire for days. The cool people, the pace, wacky high heels, a crumbling brick building, the smell of beer, someone pushing a shopping cart, even the light or a peek at the river can do it for me. Heading to the beach or the mountains offers huge inspiration. In fact, all my stories have been at least partially inspired by both. Julia’s Chocolates is set outside of Sisters, Oregon. Suzanna’s Stockings is set in Depoe Bay, Oregon. The Last Time I Was Me is set in Welches, Oregon, and Henry’s Sisters is set in Hood River.

Hope you like my books…feel free to write to me via my website at any time. I answer all letters unless they’re mean, and that’s the truth.

Cheers and happy reading.
Cathy Lamb
www.cathylamb.net

The Last Time I Was Me, May, 2008
Julia’s Chocolates, May, 2007
Comfort and Joy with Fern Michaels. Suzanna’s Stockings, November, 2007
Henry’s Sisters, May, 2009

Barbara Pierce | A SILENT CHARACTER: THE ENGLISH COUNTRY HOUSE

In many ways, I view the country house as a silent character in my books. Although its role is often relegated to the background, the country house represents different things to different characters. For Amara Claeg in Tempting the Heiress, the family’s country house, Arras Green was a tragic reminder of Lord Cornley’s violent assault. In A Lady Mischief, Foxenclover was both a prison and sanctuary for young Maddy, while it represented a reclaimed birthright to her brother Tipton. Lady Fayre in Wicked Under the Covers viewed Arianrod simply as her beloved home, whereas in my current release, Scandalous by Night, Lord Everod was banished from Worrington Hall. The house became a symbol of all that he had lost.

Once I’ve locked down the plot and characters for a new story, I set to work on creating the various country houses and London town houses that will be featured. This is a great deal of fun for me because it mixes history with my imagination. It also has given me a chance to set up at least a half a dozen dream houses. Most of what I design never makes it into my books. This step is mainly a personal tool to help me visualize the setting. What’s relevant to the characters does go into the book, since I am telling the story through their point of view.

For fun, I’ve selected three country houses that have exteriors and interiors that never cease to inspire me. The first one is Chatsworth House. With four hundred and fifty years of history, the country seat of the Dukes of Devonshire and the family are both worth studying. Its extensive gardens are renowned throughout England. Chatsworth was used as Mr. Darcy’s Pemberley in the 2005 version of Pride and Prejudice. The house also makes an appearance in Keira Knightley’s new film, The Duchess.

Levens Hall is a manor house located in the county of Cumbria. The original house was built by the Redman family in 1350. The Bellingham family added to the house during the Elizabethan period. Additional renovations were done in the 17th and 19th centuries. One of the more interesting features of Levens Hall is its topiary gardens. The gardens date back to 1694, and are some of the oldest in the world.

Another one of my personal favorites is Stourhead. The 2,650 acre estate is located in Wiltshire. The Palladian mansion was designed by Colen Campbell and built by Nathaniel Ireson circa 1720. The house was gutted by fire in 1901, but the Hoare family rebuilt the house in its original style. The natural landscape gardens are breathtaking.

Do you have a favorite English country house, castle, or garden? Has a book ever inspired you to decorate your own home in a certain style or design a garden?

Barbara Pierce
www.barbarapierce.com/
www.myspace.com/barbarapierce

Jennifer Lewis | What’s your fantasy destination?

Inventing your own country is a lot of fun. If you like hunky Mediterranean men, you can make sure it’s densely populated with them. Naturally all your favorite foods feature prominently in local cuisine. And if you’d like to take a sensuous mental dip in the warm waters lapping against the crystal sands of your imaginary locale—who’s to stop you?

I had all this fun and more in creating the nation of Caspia for my new book Prince of Midtown. It’s the third book in Silhouette Desire’s “Park Avenue Scandals.” The editors at Silhouette chose a different Desire author for each book in the series and gave us the plot and characters to make our own. In my case they also gave me a country.

I was handed the name Caspia and informed that it was in Europe and “like Venice.” It came complete with handsome prince Sebastian Stone, a spirited playboy in desperate need of reform by the love of a good woman: namely his down-to-earth American assistant Tessa Banks.

I’m the kind of writer who likes to know ALL the details, even if they don’t actually end up in the book, so first I had to figure out where Caspia was. I remembered there’s a Caspian Sea, but when I rushed to the globe I realized that—bordered by countries including Iran and Kazakhstan—it wasn’t technically in Europe. While visions of Kazakh horsemen galloped readily across my brain, I decided that wasn’t exactly what the Silhouette editors had in mind. After a lot of research and intense daydreaming, I imagined the horsemen had galloped through Southern Europe, conquered some picturesque countryside between Italy and Greece, and named it Caspia.

You’d never know all that from reading the book, but I needed to know ::grin::

I love warm weather, so naturally Caspia enjoys a balmy Mediterranean climate. Since I enjoy dramatic landscapes, I brushed in some steep mountains skirted with lush wildflower meadows. From the top of the crags you can look down over the red-tiled roofs of the town all the way to the glittering ocean. As Sebastian was proud of bringing prominent designer stores to his homeland, I made sure the harbor was ringed with upscale boutiques, accessible by a stroll along the smooth stone quays, or by a romantic gondola trip. ::sigh::

Nearly every review I’ve had has mentioned how much the reader enjoyed visiting Caspia in the book, so I guess my fantasy works for other people too. What would your personal paradise look like?

Jen
http://www.jenlewis.com/

Allyson Roy | Memories

Have you ever been caught by the scent of something that takes you immediately back to a particular time or place in your memory?

Roasted marshmallows. Zing! You’re ten years old at summer camp. Did you know that baby powder is one of the all-time favorite scents, which is why it’s been made into a perfume? Our sense of smell is the only one of our senses that bypasses the conscious part of our brain and connects directly with our primitive emotional region.

The place where our sexual feelings emerge.

And our sense of danger.

This is a key issue in APHRODISIAC, the first book in our romantic suspense series featuring Brooklyn sex therapist, Saylor Oz. Along with the idea that most people have a deep down secret wish to experience what it is like to be irresistible to the opposite sex.

None of us is perfect, and in a society inundated with super-gorgeous media celebrities, that idea can plague even the most sensible, intelligent men and women (especially if you add in some major disses form high school).

Enter our height-challenged heroine, Saylor Oz, who grew up with the revolting nickname, “the munchkin.” She may be small, but don’t let that fool you. When it comes to nerve and determination, Saylor will stop at nothing to get to the truth. Especially for a friend. In APHRODISIAC, a post mortem message from a childhood pal has her pulling out the stops, while leaving Saylor the target of a killer.

But we provided a little backup for her -- roommate and best bud, Benita “Binnie The Bitch” Morales. A former professional boxer, Benita’s always good for that much needed scene where it’s nice to see a beautiful woman deck a big, mean, disgusting dude who’s putting the hurt on somebody.

Guess it was kind of inevitable that friendship would be a theme that runs through our series because, in addition to being a husband and wife, we also happen to be best friends. And as debut authors, it’s great to have a chance to talk to readers about APHRODISIAC.

If you like sassy, sexy suspense, come read the first chapter here.

Allyson Roy
(Alice & Roy)
http://allysonroy.com/
www.myspace.com/allysonroy

Sandi Shilhanek | TBR

I have to say I love the Internet! I learn such interesting things, and things I never knew I was truly interested in until someone either in one of my Yahoo groups mentions it, or I see it posted on a bulletin board at one of the websites I like to visit.

This week what is grabbing my attention is To Be Read piles, from here on out to be known as TBR’s. TBR’s are mentioned a lot as I visit different places, and they provoke a slew of different emotions from people.

Some people I’ve noticed are proud of their TBR’s and will gladly tell you all about how they have it organized, how much time they spend perusing it, and how it’s taken over their homes. Others are aghast that people allow books to have free range over their homes and lives, preferring to limit themselves to a small number.

Me? Well, my TBR is vast and definitely has overtaken the space in my small home. I unfortunately don’t have it organized well at all, and when I see or read about people who have alphabetized or arranged by publisher, or by size their TBR piles I want to say, “Hey don’t you realize that takes time, and you could be reading instead?” Then when I get over that I want to say, “Would you like to come organize my pile?”

I’m curious do you have a TBR? How old do you think the oldest book in the pile is? How often do you cull it? Is it a pile or more like a mountain range? Are your friends amazed by it? Have they given you a wish list based on it?

I will share that I don’t think I could read my TBR in my lifetime. I plan on it being my children’s inheritance. I’m sure that there’s a book or two, or even maybe a hundred that might be worth something on the open market. I will not ever admit to how many actual books the TBR contains, because isn’t it already enough to have admitted that it’s not in any way organized?

So now that you know something about my TBR I have some questions about yours.
I’m curious do you have a TBR? How old do you think the oldest book in the pile is? How often do you cull it? Is it a pile or more like a mountain range? Are your friends amazed by it? Have they given you a wish list based on it?