Since ATLANTIS REBORN has its roots in Plato’s myth of the lost island of Atlantis, I thought I’d share a quick recap of one of my favorite but lesser known myths, Ashor the Black Knight. The story begins with two kings at war. As is usually the case in myth, one of them was good and fair to his people, and the other was oppressive and cruel. Fearing his army would be defeated, the good king sent a messenger to bring a man named Ashor to his court. Ashor was an old knight, but in his youth he’d specialized as an assassin. In spite of his advanced age, he remained surprisingly strong and skilled. Ashor traveled back to court where the good king implored him to go to his rival’s fortress city and kill him. Ashor said that he must see for himself, but if the other king was as terrible as he’d been told, he would do it. So, Ashor skulked around the enemy’s city until he’d seen enough to know the king was truly awful to his people. As agreed, he assassinated the tyrant and made a hasty retreat. He stopped long enough to free a priest who…

I should probably start off with the caveat that I can’t guarantee your Happily Ever After, even if you follow my super awesome instructions word for word. Because…well…because of something I like to call men. They’re unpredictable at times. Especially the alpha ones. Am I right, ladies? My husband likes to tell his own version of our love story to strangers and acquaintances alike. Most special ops alphas have a unique personality. It takes some getting used to. I’ll intersperse his version with the truth below. Choose Your Mark HIS VERSION: I met my husband in a class I took about police procedural stuff. The details aren’t important because I don’t even remember what he was talking about. All I could focus on were his rippling muscles and the tight tshirt he wore. And as soon as he mentioned the fact that he had a PhD, in anthropology of all things (how sexy is that?), then I was basically a puddle in my desk. I decided then and there that he would be mine. He was also a Chief of Police, had been a SWAT cop for 16 years, and had worked undercover for 12 years. TRUTH: I did meet…

In my latest novella from Carina Press, SAVING HIS WOLF, I got the interesting opportunity to write about a shifter who was both blind and unable to shift. The character has been pushing me to tell her story for a few years, but the time was never right. When I finally did find her story, I realized pretty quickly that she would be a hard character to capture on the page. For one thing, I’m not blind and I don’t have experience how it would be to be blind. I did try a few experiments while writing the novella to help me understand better. I closed my eyes and listened to a tv show—quickly realizing how much I missed the visual stimulation. I also closed my eyes and tried to walk through the house. This is a house I’ve lived in for nineteen years and I still couldn’t navigate it with my eyes closed! Finally, I tried to eat with my eyes closed. Wow. That was difficult and didn’t last long. These little things helped me in the smallest way to see what it would be like to be blind and what Olivia must have overcome to be able to…

Many times when I sketch a character, when I’m right at the beginning of figuring out who this person is, I take from my real life. I’ll use aspects either of myself or those who are close to me, or perhaps someone who I’ve come across over the years who has had a great impact on me. That’s not too unusual—I think most writers do that to one degree or another. But sometimes, I make very deliberate choices. Sometimes there are challenges in my own life that relate to me, or a friend or family member, and I will inject personal experience into my stories and characters. Those choices are never made lightly and they can be scary. It can feel as if I’m allowing myself to become too vulnerable through my stories because once it’s in the hands of a reader, it’s completely out of my control. I don’t want my damaged characters, the ones who’ve had to fight in life, who’ve had to overcome—or who are still in the process of overcoming being repeatedly kicked in the teeth—to be disregarded. They’re still healing and I don’t want them to get hurt any more than they already have been….