When you have to meet someone at an airport or have a doctor’s appointment, do you take a book with you?  I do.  It’s a habit, one so ingrained that my husband teases me about never being without a book. Sometimes when I leave town, I pack several, maybe in different genres, because I don’t know what I’m going to be in the mood to read on a given evening.  I want a choice, and now that we have e-readers, I can take a small library along in very little space. Reading can offer a great escape from a day that was stressful or tedious or just didn’t go very well.  I have favorite books I read over and over, and I like having the option to relax with one that’s like an old friend. I don’t have to figure out who the people are or, if the book is a romance, how the hero and heroine will win their happy ending.  I can just enjoy the trip, as I do when driving through places I’ve lived before. Of course, I can also explore new territory with books I’ve never read before.  That’s always more of an adventure, something to…

I write books set in the past. Life for them is definitely more inconvenient and dangerous. If they get sick, they may well die from a simple infection because there are no antibiotics. If they want to contact somebody they write a letter, then wait a few days for a reply. For entertainment they read or are read to. There is none of the instant gratification that we expect today. But at the theater the other night I began to wonder whether progress is always good. I was in the front row of the balcony. Down below me a sea of little lights twinkled. Special effects? Not at all. It was the whole of the ground floor of the theater on their mobile phones. I find this trend hard to understand. Here these people were in a beautiful old theater with carved pillars, painted murals, a gorgeous ceiling and they are waiting for the moment when the curtain goes up….and all they want to do is check their messages. How many of them would actually have gotten messages saying anything important? Buffett agrees to your offer to buy Walmart? President Obama wants you in Pakistan first thing tomorrow? Or even…

The catch phrase for Las Vegas is so well known you can find it in most television series or films about the fabled Sin City with its casinos and homage to the vices of mankind. Las Vegas is an adult party town where you can gamble, go to shows, see sparkling showgirls and never see the sun—despite the desert location. In every way, it was perfect location for a paranormal romance.  When I wrote SOULGIRLS I knew the Vegas destination was ideal for the Arcana Royale. My First Trip to Las Vegas This may make you laugh, but the very first time I “went” to Las Vegas, I went via Charlie’s Angels’ episode Angels in Vegas. It had my three favorite Angels: Sabrina, Kelly, and Kris working together, fabulous outfits and danger. Yes, it was 1978 and I fell in love with the city. After that came the series Vegas with Robert Urich. He was so hawt, dangerous, and great to know. Every show that took a trip to Vegas had me glued to the screen. When I was nineteen, I got to go to Las Vegas for the first time and it was everything I thought it would be….