Robin Kaye | The Domestic God

Romeo, Romeo is about an independent businesswoman without a domestic bone in her body. Her life would be perfect if she could just figure out how to keep her nosy, pushy, Italian family from trying to marry her off.

Nick Romeo, Brooklyn’s Donald Trump (without the comb-over), thinks independent women are an urban myth, until he meets Rosalie and realizes they’re no myth, just a pain the ass. He’s finally met a woman who is looking for the same thing he is--a commitment free relationship-- and is shocked to discover that all he wants to do is take care of her. Before too long, he’s moved in, cleaned her apartment, stocked her refrigerator and adopted her dog.

Romeo, Romeo is the first book in my Domestic Gods series. I think there’s nothing sexier than a man cleaning. I find it sad that many women think this is a myth. We live in a world where women are expected to work outside the home and still do the lion’s share of the childcare and housework.

Men certainly are doing more housework now than they used to. According to the CNN Article, “Housework and sex: What’s the connection?” In 2005 men did about 13 hours of housework a week compared to about six in 1976 whereas women’s weekly housework decreased from 26 hours to 17. It’s not equal, but it’s definitely moving in the right direction.

That same CNN article quotes Joshua Coleman, psychologist and author of The Lazy Husband: How to Get Men to Do More Parenting and Housework as saying, "When a man does housework, it feels to the woman like an expression of caring and concern, which then physically reduces her stress.” Well, duh! Of course it does! Any woman who has watched a man do the dishes after a nerve-wracking day of work, kids, laundry, and cooking knows that. Give me a husband who will take his share of the childcare and housework, and I’ll show you a happy wife.

When I write a romance I write about men I find to be sexy, desirable, and with whom I’d want to share my life. Nothing is sexier to me than a man doing dishes, except for maybe a man scrubbing the bathtub, or better yet, the toilet. I love a man who can be man enough to fix your car and fix you dinner too—the kind of guy who thinks of a vacuum cleaner as a power tool and gets a thrill out of using it. Every woman wants a man who is as good in the kitchen as he is in the bedroom. Who wouldn’t?

Since I’ve been married to a Domestic God for the last 19 years, I have to say, it rocks. My DG is the inspiration for every hero I’ve ever written. I really appreciate him and it seems as though most of my readers do, too. He’s become a bit of a legend. He’s even been interviewed by one of my blog-mates, who, at first, went in search of kinks in his armor –now she claims first dibs on him if anything should ever happen to me.

A few weeks ago, my sister called me after watching an episode of "The Starter Wife." Debra Messing’s character was fantasizing about a gorgeous man – in the fantasy he was vacuuming. The Domestic God is working his way into popular culture and if you ask me, it’s about time!

Karen Harper | RESEARCHING THE LIVING AND THE DEAD

No, I don’t write vampire novels, but I do write both contemporary and historical fiction. For the last ten years of my twenty-five-year writing career, I have written one romantic suspense novel and then one historical novel—back and forth. I have a writer’s split personality since it takes different skills and research techniques to do both. I love reading and writing in two genres and in two times, but it does have its challenges as well as its rewards.

For my contemporary romantic suspense novels, I can visit the settings for my story and interview people who live there or have the same careers as my hero and heroine. For THE HIDING PLACE (Nov. 2008), I spent a week in the Rocky Mountains outside Denver. I was able to interview men with dogs trained as trackers. I took two classes to learn about how my female P.I. would work, one class from a tracer who looks for lost people, and one from a female private investigator.

When I write my Elizabethan novels (most recently, THE LAST BOLEYN and MISTRESS SHAKESPEARE), I can, at least, still visit my settings. Nothing like a research trip to England! The Tower of London, Hampton Court Palace, Greenwich—and museums, of course—help me to understand Elizabeth Tudor and her times. Although I can’t interview anyone from that era, the Elizabethans were great recorders of their lives: diaries, lists of their possessions, wills, books, and, of course, their literature such as poems and plays. I even have a reference book of the poems, prayers and speeches the queen herself wrote. All of that helps my characters to come alive for me, and, hopefully, for the reader too.

One of the great things about being a writer is that I learn so much about things I would not ordinarily know. I hope my readers not only enjoy my books for great entertainment and emotion, but also for a fun, easy way to become more educated. Whether writing the past or the present, that’s my goal.

Karen Harper

www.karenharperauthor.com/

Steve Berry | The Mystery of Charlemagne

Charlemagne is a historical figure you don't see a lot of in thrillers. Katherine Neville is the only writer I can recall who’s made good use of him. But he's fascinating. He ruled for 47 years, and lived to be 74, at a time when kings rarely reigned more than 5 years, and people died long before age 40. He unified a continent, laid the groundwork for the formation, centuries later, of a modern Europe, and many of his policies and practices became proven models for western civilization. He was a visionary who surrounded himself with smart people and, for the first time, placed the needs of his subjects before royal ambition. He was so progressive that it begs the question—did he have help? Was he privy to special knowledge?

Both questions spurred my imagination.

Within The Charlemagne Pursuit I utilized an actual artifact known as the Voynich Manuscript. It’s preserved in the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library at Yale University . Supposedly created sometime in the 15th or 16th centuries, its folios are penned in a language that no one has ever been able to decipher. In addition, there are a multitude of colorful, odd drawings. By general consensus the Voynich Manuscript is probably an elaborate medieval hoax, designed to fleece a royal patron out of a hefty payment. But no one knows for sure. Writing may well have been the single most important creation of human kind. Once we learned to memorialize our thoughts, in languages that could be understood by others many millennia later, human civilization rose to new levels. The Charlemagne Pursuit explores this all-to-real-phenomena.

The Charlemagne Pursuit is an intensely personal journey for my recurring hero, Cotton Malone. For 38 years he’s pondered what really happened when his father died in a submarine disaster in the North Atlantic. Then I came across the book Ice, by Marianna Gosnell, which described the amazing affects of Antarctic cold. Once I realized what was actually possible, I increased the intensity of Malone’s journey. As a writer, I struggle with character development. This book, my seventh novel, allowed me an opportunity to work on that aspect of my craft. It's much more character-driven than the others (though I don't scrimp on plot). I only hope reader’s regard my effort as a positive one.

In writing the story, I visited the Zugspitze in Bavaria and rode the same cable car, 10,000 feet up, that Malone finds himself trapped on. I also loitered around the cathedral in Aachen for four days, trying to conjure up the Charlemagne pursuit. Biltmore Estate in Asheville is one of my favorite places. I’ve visited several times, especially at Christmas. As for Antarctica, unfortunately I didn’t make it there (thank goodness the good Lord created National Geographic). My goal is to walk upon all seven continents. I have two to go.

Steve Berry
www.steveberry.org

Beth Kery | Do You Believe in the Magic of Romance?

Does true romance really exist? Or is it just the stuff and nonsense of romance novels?

I do believe in romance, or I wouldn’t write romance novels. Having said that, I have to admit there are a few qualifications that go along with that attestation. A romance is a story where people connect in a way that’s beyond that of the common-place and casual. I think we dream about making that profound connection with another person. It brings us out of ourselves; let’s us see the world in a whole new way. It seems to me that’s what readers want in a romance—to vicariously experience that moment of intense connection, to feel alive, to see oneself as unique and beautiful through the eyes of another.

But is romance escapism? Wouldn’t it be better to see the world for what it is—a place where war and famine exists, where people daily take advantage, lie and steal from one another? As a child, we slowly learn the lesson that ‘life isn’t fair.’ What’s more, life can be ugly, cold and harsh. By the time we’re adults, we’re wary about being seen as a pushover…someone who’s foolish enough to believe in dreams. We know from firsthand experience that if a political candidate should mention the word ‘dream’ in their speech, they’ll be attacked by their hard-nosed opponent as being weak or unsubstantial.

But it’s mainly because life can be harsh (or routine and boring) that the romance novel has its appeal. Almost everyone knows the thrill of going to a movie theatre and escaping for a few hours to a place of excitement, romance and adventure.

Of course, there’s always the risk that a person mistakes the 'escape' for 'reality.' This is one of the main criticisms about the romance novel. Sure, most of us recognize the fantasy elements…but what about the person who actually expects a knight in shining armor or an alpha (or two) with smoking pistols in their pocket to come strutting through their bedroom door?

What if she’s unable to see the cute, hopeful guy who’s into her big-time because she’s waiting for some amalgamation of every romance hero she’s every read?

For me, this isn’t much of an argument against romance novels. It does happen, and it’s unfortunate. But I can’t help but notice that people watch Clint Eastwood, Angelina Jolie or Harrison Ford incessantly, and rarely do they become convinced they’re a bad-ass who is going to save the world. That’s because the action-adventure hero is as much a fantasy as the romantic hero (and of course, these two roles blend together nicely.) It’s a ‘type,’ a myth that we as human beings recognize as easily as the warrior-hero or the brave, beautiful princess.

So back to my original question, “Does romance really exist?” I know that it does—just like other virtues, such as heroism, courage and altruism really exist. It’s an ideal, one that we should strive for in our relationships; not just passively wait for like a princess in a tower.

Romance is also a feeling. Sure, it’s something that happens between two people, but it’s also a person’s actions or a place that evokes a feeling of heightened awareness of oneself…the infinite possibilities of life. There’s a certain glamour to romance…a sense of something higher. It doesn’t have to be huge to be romantic. I have a scene in my upcoming Berkley time travel called DARING TIME where the early twentieth century heroine dances by herself, imagining being in her lover’s arms. It’s set in a lovely old ballroom and her satin, ermine-bordered dress swishes along the polished wood floor. That’s romance to me.

Romance lives. Sometimes it might even look and feel like a romance-novel-romance. Oftentimes, it’s as diverse, quirky, or quiet as the people who are romancing. Bolder, idealized romances in novels don’t take away from the beauty of that. Everyone has the ability to be the hero and heroine of their own life, to inject the dream into everyday existence…even if it is in some small, personal way.

So what do you think? Does romance exist in your life?

Beth Kery
www.bethkery.com/

Tessa Radley | My Christmas Resolution

I loved reading Lisa Plumley's Christmas Confessions a couple of days ago…so much of what Lisa said is exactly what I've vowed to do for my Christmas this year. Downscale. Make sure the things that really matter remain priorities.

So often the rush up to Christmas is the final push up a loooong hill after a year of Busy Busy Busy. Only last week I realized that it's been several months since I've spoken to several great friends. Sure we sometimes email jokes and inspirational sayings around (and that hasn't been as often as usual because I spent a chunk of this year with NO email…grrr). But email isn't the same as TALKING to each other and connecting. One of these friends lives in Africa, another in Australia and a third—wait for it—lives in the next road! No excuse for that!

Available 12/9

As all our lives have grown busier—our kids take precedence—our work takes over—traffic congestion erodes into precious free minutes. Time passes until it's a shock to realize how long it's been since I last connected with those fabulous friends.

For me this Christmas will be about celebrating joy with my family and also about catching up with my friends—by phone (Skype was made for me) or in person over a leisurely cup of coffee. No Christmas gifts can beat that.

So join me and contact a friend you've been meaning to call…

Have a wonderful Festive Season.
Tessa Radley
http://www.tessaradley.com/

Sandi Shilhanek | Insomnia

Last week I talked about reading while you’re sick, and this week I want to talk about what happens if insomnia hits. I really don’t want to sound like I’m a complainer or a hypochondriac, but I’m curious!

I’m of an age where insomnia hits me on a fairly regular schedule. Some nights of course are better than others. Those are the nights I wake up squint at the clock (it’s across the room and without my glasses on I’m totally unable to see) and lie back down and immediately sleep comes back to me. Other nights I squint at the clock lie down again and it seems like 10 minutes later I’m still wide awake.

When I first started contributing to this blog and insomnia hit I opened up my laptop and made a whole list of topics I thought might be interesting. I felt like a real writer having to get up and put my inspirations down before they became something I just wished I had remembered. Like I’m sure many authors feel I’m wondering now if those topics are as good as I imagined them to be at 2 AM!

I know that some of my fellow yahoo group members grab their books and book lights or e-readers that are backlit and sit up in bed and read when they can’t sleep. Do you do that? Are you like me and can’t stand to be in bed if you’re not sleeping and truly wanting to? I get up and go to the living room. There I can turn on a light and read, mess on my laptop, and or watch TV.

I do sign on to my IM because maybe someone is going to be suffering along with me, and want to chat until we finally think we’re able to catch a few more ZZZZ’s until the alarm goes off?

So…how do you battle insomnia? Do you suffer from it? Do you have a great home remedy? Do you leave the bedroom and go on an unexpected cleaning frenzy (which I have been known to do) or do you curl up on the couch to read or watch TV? Inquiring minds need to know!

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Sandi

http://readers-n-ritas.org/