In several of my yahoo groups the conversation tends to run to discovering a new to you author. As you can imagine being dedicated readers someone in the group has usually read whichever author is being discussed, and being the eclectic readers that we are can we all agree on one good book? Of course not! That then leads to the person whose just discovered an author having to get not only one backlist book, but all of them! Do you have an author that you can remember having to glom? I know that I was late to the party on several very popular authors. One that comes to mind is unfortunately no longer writing, but when she wrote I had to head off to the closest store and get everything she had written. Now I envy the person who is just discovering Lavyrle Spencer because she has a finite backlist! I remember when I discovered Sandra Brown. I was on vacation, and figured that vacation money wasn’t like real money, and I could take a chance on an author I hadn’t read. I bought Mirror Image and was hooked on this author. Even all those years ago she had…

The new year is here and book signings are starting to happen…I spent a whole day entering the local signings at our Book Club’s web site. We have a few (ha!) good ones coming up in 2009. Steve Berry was our first one for 2009. I managed to write down the right bookstore but insisted on driving to the wrong one. All was well since fortunately the bookstores are close together so we only missed the introduction. Whew. He was a great speaker and told the 50 or so of us there about the way he does research, how he picks the places and objects he weaves stories around and then what’s coming down the pike. He also enthused about the ThrillerFest organization and the annual meeting they have in NYC. It was a fun way to start an evening, which we had to top off with a late dinner. Buy today Dinner, that was a real challenge. Since I was “confused” on the location my favorite spot, Cheesecake Factory wasn’t close. So a new place had to be negotiated. Isn’t that the way it happens with other families and friends, the restaurant negotiation. Who’s on what diet, who’s hungry…

I love anthologies. They’re like getting small portions of several desserts. You don’t have to choose between the mousse, the chocolate dipped strawberry or the truffle cake—you can have them all. Plus you get a real taste of what you’re reading. Novellas are actual portions–not the single bite of a short story. I love writing novellas, too, and that shows up in the number of anthologies that contain Summer Devon stories. The first collection is Taming Him (Ellora’s Cave/Simon and Schuster) Other authors: Michelle Pillow, Kimberly Dean. Summer’s story is “Perfection”: A laboratory experiment gone awry cranks Bryan’s pheromones into overdrive and he’s irresistible to women. Escaping droves of desperate women is only one of his worries. Thugs from the lab are after him, eager to recapture the million-dollar essence he exudes. His only hope is to find the “perfect” woman. Sleeping with her will turn off his pheromone factory. Finding her is another matter. Most of the anthologies I’m in have themes, such as dragons. I Dream of Dragons, Volume 1(Samhain Publishing) Other authors: Marie Harte, Bianca D’Arc. The Summer Devon story is “Knight’s Challenge”: Sarkany has collected a fine hoard, including much of a small New England city….

With my new release, Mona Lisa Darkening, just out in mass market paperback—the first one of my novels to do so—I’m left scratching my head a bit. One reader emailed me with praise for switching the series from the more expensive trade paperback to the smaller and economical mass market paperback format. But two other readers queried, asking if Mona Lisa Darkening would possibly be available in trade or hardcover format, which they preferred. I’m sorry to say no. But it surprised me greatly that they would ask. I’d love to hear which format others prefer, and why.Okay, some happy news. My 11-year-old son, Michael Chen, recently starred in a small independent film called Children of Invention, an amazing experience all in itself, but now we’ve just learned that it’s been accepted into the 2009 Sundance Film festival, under the Spectrum category! Here’s a link to the other 15 films in the category—the Spectrum group is halfway down the page. Robin Williams, Ashley Judd, Mary Tyler Moore, and the like are listed there! And, as listed in my son’s bio, he’s a great dancer. Here’s a ballet clip I just posted of him on YouTube from last year’s recital. I’m…

Trapped in the past for nearly two years, I have written four historicals in a row! I much prefer to mix in Contemporary Romantic Suspense, but contract obligations made it impossible. The good news is, when you are writing in a certain time period, you begin to get a feel for that period. Mostly, my historicals have been set in the Regency Period, but a few years ago, I got an itch to move on, and so I set The Heart Trilogy: HEART OF HONOR, HEART OF FIRE, and just released, HEART OF COURAGE, in London in the 1850’s. The books are all set around the London ladies’ gazette, Heart to Heart. I chose the period because it was a time when women were beginning to be involved in activities outside the home. They worked, they owned businesses, they were becoming more outspoken. I thought this time would give me an opportunity to explore a broader range of stories and I think it has. Currently I am immersed in The Bride’s Trilogy, books about three brothers, also set in the Victorian period. The first, ROYAL’S BRIDE, will be out next September. In the meantime, I hope you will watch for…

Ah, the first blush of romance. The first time you see the idea, sitting there in the corner of your mind, trying to get your attention in that inconspicuous manner these ideas sometimes adopt. You look away, convinced that there is no way this idea could possibly go anywhere. It’s just a fluke, a fling. Surely, you’ll forget it by morning. But when you look back, the idea is still there, sitting in the corner, flirting with you. So what’s a harmless little flirtation? You approach the idea cautiously, in a manner you hope is suave and sophisticated, but as you get closer, your excitement rises. Your heart begins to race. You lick your lips in anticipation. It’s even more exciting up close. So you flirt with it, spend the night with it, take it home with you. In the morning, you’re surprised that it’s still with you. After two months, you begin to believe this idea has a future. So you cultivate it, give up sleep for it, nurture it as it grows within you. Soon, what began as a nugget of an idea in your mind blossoms into a full-blown creature. It grows within you, like a fetus…

Reviewers often refer to my protagonist, Hallie Ahern, as both “feisty,” and “troubled,” as if this combination is something of a surprise. But to me, these traits go hand in hand. Hallie is an investigative journalist, a recovering gambling addict who has to struggle with herself to stay away from the online poker sites. But because she isn’t really addressing her addiction, she still craves the action of a hot table. To get her adrenaline fix, she pushes whatever investigation she’s working on farther than it should go. In Teaser, Hallie discovers that local teenage girls are featuring provocative videos of themselves on the local social networking site. Hallie discovers this is more dangerous and far reaching than just a teenage whim. When teenage girls start disappearing, Hallie’s story becomes a mission. Although I’ve never been addicted to anything –except maybe FreeCell– I’ve had a lot of experience with the addictive personality. People I’ve loved have had to come back from the precipice, and I’ve suffered along on their journey. But I’ve also been fortunate enough to learn that when in recovery, the same personality trait that drives these loved ones to their addictions, also drives them to success. A…

I want to start by wishing everyone happy healthy new year! I hope that 2009 is a great year for all. Every year there’s discussion in my yahoo groups about resolutions. Some people make more personal resolutions about things such being more fiscally responsible, getting healthier by exercising or watching their diets. Some are making resolutions about their TBRs and/or potential reading choices. Last year I attempted to do an alphabet challenge. This was to have had me reading at least one book by an author whose last name started with every letter of the alphabet. I was doing fairly well at this, and even had been told who to read for X and Z, but then I lost my list of what I had read and gave up. This year I’m going to attempt it again, and can use those authors from last year’s X and Z challenge, because I haven’t read those books yet. I knew procrastination was good for a reason! This year I’m also going to attempt to join in the challenge the same group is doing and read the selected word of the month. This means picking a title that has a certain word in…

2009 is going to be my year! I’ve set my goals, realistically of course, and already brainstormed how this is going to happen. I’m looking forward to it no longer being 2008, one of the most difficult and stressful years of my young life, however I’m more looking forward to 2009 being the year of Gwen. I’m ready to leave my comfortable shelter and venture out into the big, bad world. But honestly before I start anything crazy or at least different, I still have some beefs to address. Yes, one of my goals this year is to stop getting dramatic over silly things (like celebrity gossip and my imaginary boyfriends), but that does not mean I can stop giving my opinion about bad movies and the ever overhyped “Awards Season.” I say that with very dramatic air quotes. So far only the Golden Globes and a handful of Critics Associations have doled out their opinions and awards. The only one that matters to me is Independent Spirit Awards. You were thinking I was going to say the Oscars, but after watching half of the movies up for consideration, I vote no for the Oscars in 2009. I enjoyed THE…

I’ve been working on Wolf Tales IX for the past couple of months which, counting the novellas in anthologies, is the seventeenth title in my erotic tales of the Chanku. It’s due for release in January 2010. I remember wondering when I signed the contracts for the third set of novels and novellas if I’d ever get them all written. Now, all of a sudden, the stories I’m contracted for are almost done and I’m waiting to hear from my publisher about plans for more of the series. Characters who were new to me less than four years ago have now become old friends. I know their secrets, their loves, their needs and their fears. I wonder what the future holds in store for them, and I worry about them as if they’re real flesh-and-blood people who matter to me in the way of those I love in real life. I’m either desperately in need of a good therapist, or totally involved in my imaginary world…and I’m hoping it’s the latter, because it’s such a great world to hang out in. For one thing, it’s filled with fascinating (to me, anyway!) characters with a strong sense of family and a…