We can learn so much about people from what they have on their Christmas wish lists.  So I decided to ask some of the characters in my new “Elite Force” book – HOT ZONE – to share their Christmas lists with you!  So, here goes, the Christmas lists for the heroine, hero and a few of his squadron buddies…. Amelia Bailey: “Christmas is going to be amazing! I have a new nephew since my brother and sister-in-law are adopting a toddler in the Bahamas.  So I could use new flip flops and a sarong.  A Kindle too, please, so I can bring lots of books to read on the beach!” Master Sergeant Hugh Franco: “No Christmas list.  The season brings too many painful reminders of my family.  They’re… uhm… There’s no easy way to say this.  They’re dead.  I’ll be working over the holidays so that others in my unit can stay home.  If you have to buy me anything, I’ll take new strings for my guitar.” Liam “Walker” McCabe – “Kitchen gadgets.  Every time I get divorced, the ex-wife gets all the kitchen stuff, which sucks since I really enjoy cooking.” Wade “Brick” Rocha – “Only junk food in…

Behind-the-Scenes Science in ACQUAINTED WITH THE NIGHT For the last thirty-three years, the dinner table conversations in our house has centered around cloning, stem cells, MRSA, and H1N1—that’s what happens when a nurse marries a doctor, and their son becomes a biochemist. When we’re around our medical friends, the talk often turns to the future of science—and also the history of diseases. For a writer, this is great fodder for a paranormal novel. When I began writing ACQUAINTED WITH THE NIGHT, I wanted to honor the immortals’ mythology, but I also wanted to give it a twist. Like most predators, the vampires in AWTN have a biological edge. They are physically attractive. Their brains are more developed than a human’s—some are quite gifted with telepathy. They are physically superior. They run faster, never become ill, and heal at an extraordinary rate. But my main character was an ex-historian, presently working as a London tour guide. She wouldn’t know a test tube from a turnip. Luckily, Jude Barrett walked into the book and told me to stop fretting. Not only was he a biochemist, he’d worked at a pharmaceutical company in Yorkshire, conducting research on mice, and he’d discovered something extraordinary….