In my historical mystery, THE DARLING DAHLIAS AND THE TEXAS STAR, the real star of the show is Lily Dare, the Texas Star, “the fastest woman in the world.” Lily is a stunt and speed pilot who flies a Travel Air Speedwing (until it is repossessed), and in an effort to look like Amelia Earhart, wears a white leather helmet, goggles, and white flying suit with a long, flowing red scarf looped around her neck. She can fly rings around any man and is ready to prove it—until somebody sabotages her airplane and threatens her life. Then the Darling Dahlias (the local garden club, hosting a party for the Texas Star) will have to dig down and find out what’s going on. Lily Dare is a fictional member of an important club of real flying ladies of her era, women who dared to challenge the skies in their own airplanes. In October of 1929, 99 of these women met at Curtiss Field on Long Island and created the Ninety-Nines, to coordinate the efforts of women in aviation. The new organization pledged to do what it could to help in “aeronautical research, air racing events, acquisition of aerial experience, maintenance of…

I was at my day job the other week and got talking to someone about dreams. And goals. He asked me what I did outside my day job and when I told him I was a romance author he quickly started asking me questions—how long had I been writing? Was it hard to get published? How did it feel now I was published? This gentleman was now retired but had worked in customer service all his life and he said very quietly that it was never his dream job. I asked him what was and he stilled for a moment, tilted his head and said, “I would have liked to make furniture.” He said he’d loved carpentry since he was a boy. He said he loved spending time in his workshop, but then admitted that when he started crafting a piece he never finished it. He said his workshop was cluttered with half made tables and chairs, hall stands and a carved four poster bed. I asked him why he didn’t finish his pieces and he couldn’t tell me. Which of course made me curious and I dug a little deeper and before I knew it we were having a…

The Walking Dead Season 5 premiers October 12, 2014, but that far off date hasn’t kept the world from buzzing and speculating on what’s in store for the survivors this season? Who’s going to die this season because we are far beyond hope that every single one of our favorite characters will make it out alive? I’ll admit it. The Walking Dead gives me nightmares. Zombies terrify me. People in this show terrify me. I sobbed watching the Season 4 episode “The Grove”. I’m completely addicted. It’s not the zombies that keep me coming back. It’s the cast of characters who defy the odds, who struggle to not only survive but to live with hope and take pleasure in the people they’re with. That’s why this week my YA picks all deal with survivors (although, no zombies because I need to sleep before The Walking Dead airs again!). STITCHING SNOW by R.C. Lewis STITCHING SNOW We’ve all seen adaptations of Snow White. I promised myself I’d never read or watch another after a movie I shall not name ruined Snow’s story for me, and then comes STITCHING SNOW by R.C. Lewis. This tale takes on space travel and galaxies and…

I am really excited about what’s coming up next for me! After so many years writing fantasy, I needed a bit of a departure, and I’ve been really keen on the Dystopian scene, so that’s where I decided to depart to. My next series is a YA/NA Dystopian trilogy titled The Breeder Cycle, and book one, BREEDER, comes out later this year. It was a bit of a challenge for me to see if I could write Dystopian at all, especially as I’ve written it in an entirely different voice and perspective than The Gateway Chronicles, but if my editors and beta readers are any judges at all, I think I have transitioned successfully. I got the inspiration to write BREEDER from a series of articles I read concerning radical population control methods being proposed today ⎯ things along the lines of how Nazi Germany used to operate. The very notion of modern scientists even considering these vile practices for use on the human race repulsed me so much that I was able to quickly conceive of a fictional futuristic society in which these practices had been put into place, and I knew I had to write the story about…

Good afternoon, everyone. I’m so happy to be here with my first guest post for Fresh Fiction. My latest novel, THE DUPLICITOUS DEBUTANTE, was released on September 1. This is the sixth book in a nine-book series about a large New York family. Each book can be read as a stand-alone, but by reading all of the books, readers can become familiar with each of the nine siblings in the family. And they can catch a glimpse of the other siblings, as they pop in and out of the earlier books while awaiting their moment. THE DUPLICITOUS DEBUTANTE focuses on 19-year-old Rosemary Fitzpatrick, who has been writing over-the-top dime novels under the guise of a male pen name for the past four years. She bases some of her story lines on events that are happening within her own family, several of whom live in St. Louis, at the edge of civilized America in 1859. While the thought of having a story about the wild west–usually with a damsel in distress and a larger than life hero, with guns, wild animals, cowboys and Indians thrown in for good measure–being written by a woman is strange enough, the concept of the dime…

I recently joined a new group of historical romance authors. Our intention in forming the group was to raise awareness of historical romance books. Too many readers pass us by because they believe ‘historical’ romance is too bland, too filled with boring historical facts, and too ‘old.’ Like a lot of other—especially girls—students, I loathed history class in school. All those boring, boring stories of wars, battles, political intrigue, and memorization of dates, really turned me off. I ploughed through my history classes with fingertips holding up my eyelids to keep from falling asleep. Then, a few years after I left high school, I picked up an historical fiction book about the sixth wife of Henry VIII. I was fascinated, and embarrassed now, to say I had not really heard much about Henry VIII. In America, it’s hard enough to get through our boring history, without having to suffer through another country’s. I went back to the library, and looked up more by the same author, and lo and behold, she had written about all six of his unfortunate wives. I read each one, not realizing at the time that I was reading ‘history.’ That began my love affair with…

COURSE OF ACTION: THE RESCUE, continues Merline Lovelace and my own 3-book series with the release of Book 2 of 3. These are stories of six high school football heroes and best friends who, after graduation, joined the military. Each of them ended up in black ops in their different branches of service. Harlequin Romantic Suspense, September 1, 2014. Available in ebook (all platforms) and paperback. These books can be read independent of one another or as a series. Book 1 came out via HRS november, 2013. Book 2 is out now. Book 3, the final one of this series, will come out late in 2016. Book 2 brings Josh Patterson (Jaguar Night) and Jack Halliday’s (Amazon Gold) stories to you. About Lindsay McKenna’s Jaguar Night Recon Marine Staff Sergeant Josh Patterson didn’t see it coming. As a high school athlete, he and five other young men known as the Sidewinders, took Texas football championship twice in four years. They came from a Podunk Panhandle area of Texas known as Rush City. It was a struggling ranching community out in the middle of nowhere. These six football heroes had teamwork, heart and were competitive. Each of them upon graduation, went…

Out of all the places in the world to travel, Belgium had never come to mind. Not for any particular reason, but I thought there were far more interesting places to visit like Scotland, England, Ireland, and perhaps France and Italy. Frankly, Belgium was never on my radar as a must-see. So when my sister asked me to tag along with her on a business trip for my birthday, I thought what could be better than spending an entire week in Europe with my sister? I was right. Nothing could be better. When my sister and I left the Belgium airport, she warned me that the scenery was very much like the PA Turnpike. She was pretty much right. There’s a farm. There’s another farm. I think you get the picture. I started to think my week was going to be very long. But as if the clouds parted and the sun decided to make a grand entrance, we reached the city of Antwerpen. The first thing I noticed was the amazing architecture. There were quaint cobblestone streets, men, women and children who rode bikes everywhere—churches, cathedrals, markets, shops, I was never so happy to be in my element. I…

You know how to relate to people when you know where you stand with them, when you know of their agendas toward you and their attitudes, when you know what motivates them in their interaction with you. Understanding those aspects affects your approach to the relationship. When there’s a lack of clarity regarding those aspects, you’re left in a more vulnerable position. In AS DARKNESS GATHERS, increasingly frightening events make Finch question those around her. Someone wants to hurt her, and she isn’t sure whom she can trust. I think Finch navigates this uncertainty with a lot more aplomb than I probably would. She’s afraid and angry, of course, but she doesn’t allow it to cripple her. She refuses to be cowed and doesn’t allow the experience to make her bitter. She doesn’t let herself become paranoid, and I think if I were in the same situation I would have a difficult time not allowing the suspicion to control me. She has a lot of grace and strength of character, even as she struggles to determine whether those she loves are the ones she can trust. About AS DARKNESS GATHERS When their plane goes down in the Canadian wilderness, Finch…

I’ve watched her shoot dozens of times. I still don’t know how she does it.” Bill blinked at that. He was amazed by the shot. But the man sitting beside him was the senior Delta Force operator on the planet, and even he couldn’t unravel the technique. “It’s pure instinct. That’s the only possible explanation.” Michael looked over at him. “Is that what you do?” Now it was Bill’s turn to feel uncertain. He had trained thousands of hours to turn learned skills into instinct. “No, because I don’t have a gift. I have to train like any other fool.” Billy the SEAL is of course, as any alpha would, understating his role as the hero of LIGHT UP THE NIGHT (the latest installment in my Night Stalkers series that follow the exceptional first women of the U.S. Army’s SOAR helicopter regiment and the men they deserve). Just as the senior Delta Force operator is daunted by this shot, Bill is daunted by the woman who saved his life, Trisha O’Malley. The fact that he is a SEAL serving undercover in Somalia, the fact that a Delta operator has chosen him as his right hand of a dangerous and complex…