The Witch’s Market Eileen Chen, who inherited her shamanistic abilities from her grandmother, Laolao, has taken a leave from her teaching job to study witchcraft in the Canary Islands. She has heard that there is a Daoist temple on Tenerife inhabited by a Chinese master famous for his psychic ability. She hopes she can help a bereaved Spanish friend whose daughter has drowned in a supposedly haunted lake. Having expected a pleasant time pursuing her research in this exotic island, Eileen instead finds herself entangled in a series of supernatural happenings. As a shamaness, she thinks she can comfort her friend, and clear up some of the mysteries. In the temple she meets the nonagenarian ‘Uncle’ Wang who conducts “underworld tours” by inviting the spirits of the dead to descend to his altar. However, instead of the spirit of the tragic young girl, Eileen’s underworld visitor radiates evil, terrifying her.   Excerpt from The Witch’s Market Next Uncle Wang gently wrapped the red blindfold around my eyes so I would not be distracted by anything in this world. After that he said, his tone very serious and respectful, “Now invite silently the loved one, god, goddess, immortal, or whomever you…

What was your favorite part about writing IN THE COMPANY OF WOLVES? Why? In the first two books of the SWAT Series (HUNGRY LIKE THE WOLF and WOLF TROUBLE) the stories revolve around the two most senior members of the Dallas Police Department SWAT team (SWAT Commander Sergeant Gage Dixon and squad leader Senior Corporal Xander). IN THE COMPANY OF WOLVES is SWAT Officer Eric Becker’s story. Becker is one of the younger guys in the Pack of alpha werewolves and he’s only been a werewolf for about two years compared to Gage who’s been a werewolf for fourteen years and Xander who went through his change eight years ago. The idea of being able to approach the story from a completely different direction really appealed to me. Now if the fact that he’s simply a “newer” werewolf was the only aspect of Becker’s personality I was dealing with during the story, the book probably wouldn’t have turned out the way it did. But if you’ve been paying attention to Becker in the first two books in the series, you might have noticed that he has a somewhat casual outlook on things like rules and pack authority. Plus, he’s in…

One of the more difficult challenges for readers and authors alike when it comes to a series is how do you keep it fresh? How do you return to the same well over and over again? And what point does a series become…eek…boring? I’ve read a lot of series over the years, the ones I enjoy the most are the ones which give me a reason to come back, but aren’t repetitive. They may possess an ongoing set of story arcs, but each book propels us forward and focuses on the couple at hand, on their journey. Keeping Willow Bend New Every book in the Wolves of Willow Bend series is a “first” book because for the couple I’m focusing on, it’s their first book, it’s their story. I keep the focus on them, and reintroduce only those key elements from the series that are vital to understanding the current couple’s tale. It sounds easy, and sometimes it is. Other times, it’s hard. Readers who follow the series will obviously get more because they know the history, and have met earlier characters, followed the twists and turns of their stories and seen more of the world fleshed out. Each book…

The Internet has made it difficult to be a writer. In the olden days (ie, before the Internet), a person might come up with ideas for stories and then sit in her garret and write, while making a list of things to look up, *later*, in the library. And then, no matter how grand the research institution, the available information on any particular topic was limited due to shelf space and the librarian’s astute eye. Not anymore. One of the easiest ways to procrastinate, as a writer, is to tumble into the abyss of the Internet. And I’m not talking about those known time-wasters like social media sites or cute films about cats. In this instance, I’m talking about legitimate research. Case in point: in GIVE UP THE GHOST (#6 in the Haunted Home Renovation series), San Francisco contractor extraordinaire, Mel Turner, stumbles onto secret passages in the Pacific Heights mansion she’s renovating. Do you have any idea how much time a person can spend on the subject “secret passages in old homes”? Try putting the topic into your search engine – but if you’re anything like me, only do so if you have a few days to spend reading…