What is the title of your latest release?APHRODITE IN PIECES What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book?This is Aphrodite in her “one night only!” big reveal. As she poses for her likeness, she tells her scintillating life story to the artist memorializing her in stone. How did you decide where your book was going to take place?Writing about Aphrodite, I knew I’d be spending a lot of time in Greece, but I didn’t anticipate how much would be set in Troy. Her tumultuous relationships with Ares and Aeneas (and Paris!) are a big part of the war. Would you hang out with your heroine in real life?Absolutely! Aphrodite is so funny; she’d be a blast in the happy hour girl group. She’d spill the hottest tea. What are three words that describe your hero?Witty, irreverent, fearless. What’s something you learned while writing this book?So much about the Venus de Milo! For instance, in 1916, women’s colleges Wellesley and Swarthmore held a competition to determine whose student body had the most Venus-like proportions. Wild! Do you edit as you draft or wait until you are totally done?A mixture of both. I like to save a read over as a reward…

What is the title of your latest release?THE ANTIQUARIAN’S OBJECT OF DESIRE What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book?Historian best friends are forced to fake hate to protect their reputations while dealing with dangerous magical antiques and rampaging ghosts, in a dark academia fantasy romcom. How did you decide where your book was going to take place?I wanted to write a dark academia romcom with gothic vibes (but cute!) so it was instantly clear to me that I needed an old manor set in lonely countryside during stormy weather. Would you hang out with your protagonist in real life?Absolutely! Professor Amelia Tarrant is my favourite heroine that I’ve written so far, and I would love to be best friends with her. Or, rather, second best friends, since her dear childhood friend Caleb Sterling always comes first in her heart. What are three words that describe your protagonist?Amelia is sensible, calm, and bookish. Caleb is vain, lazy, but clever. What’s something you learned while writing this book?I learned that I could write friends to lovers, which is a trope I’ve not attempted before and felt unsure I could actually do. But it turned out to be tremendous fun. Do you…

Book Title: WITCH QUEEN RISINGCharacter Name: Seraphine “Phine” Barreau How would you describe your family or your childhood?In a word, both are…complicated. “Barreaus only build” was the idea that defined my life. There were several magical dynasties scattered across the United States. The Barreaus are just one of them. But one of few that were matrilineal. They were stewards of a dynasty, heiressess to a line of powerful witches. Barreaus left their mark on New Orleans in more ways than could be counted, but my mother, the former Prime, certainly liked to try to. Maxine wanted them to continue that legacy at any cost…even when it cost me everything. What was your greatest talent?I don’t know if anyone would call it my greatest talent but I am most known for being a Syphon. Magic is all around us. From the energy powering your body to the individual specialties my people have, it’s in everything and everyone. Witchkin manipulate their magic in a way that is personal to them like teleportation, divination, necromancy. For me, the ebb and flow of magic is my specialty. I can feed on energy, emotions, powers. As you can imagine, it doesn’t endear me to many…

Excerpted from WHEN THE WOLVES ARE SILENT by C. S. Harris: The early hours of Sunday, 24 November “Merciful heavens,” said Sir Henry Lovejoy, one splayed hand pressed against the small of his back as he leaned over to study the stiff, hideously burned corpse by the flickering light of a horn lantern held aloft by one of his constables. More constables were fanning out around them in a search of the area, the feeble glow of their lanterns waveringpinpointsin the blackness. It was now the wee hours of Sunday morning, and the wind had come up cold and damp and heavy with the scent of promised rain. “What a frightful sight.” “That it is,” said Sebastian, standing beside him. He watched as Lovejoy tilted his head first one way, then the other, his gaze solemn as he studied what was left of the dead man’s black, ravaged face. Barely five feet tall, the magistrate was slightly built, with a bald head, an almost comically high voice, and a fierce dedication to truth that sometimes brought him into conflict with both his fellow magistrates and the powerful men around the Prince Regent. He was the least senior of Bow Street’s three stipendiary…

What is the title of your latest release?DON’T STOP What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book?DON’T STOP is about a brilliant scholar whose sexual obsession threatens to unravel her carefully built life. How did you decide where your book was going to take place?I wanted to capture the party atmosphere of New York during the dot-com madness of the year 2000. There was a feeling that the old rules of reality no longer applied. Nobody wanted to miss out. I wanted to capture that. Would you hang out with your heroine in real life?Unfortunately, yes. What are three words that describe your hero?There are two heroes. One is feral, dark, and idiosyncratic. The other is responsible, strong, and also idiosyncratic. What’s something you learned while writing this book?Certain sexual practices seem degrading to some people but not to others. Do you edit as you draft or wait until you are totally done?I edit all the time. The sentences reveal things to me and I must respond. What’s your favorite foodie indulgence?The cacio e pepe at Misirizzi off the Bowery. Describe your writing space/office!I write on a tiny white Ikea desk with a giant 20-pound Maine coon cat often on…

Excerpt from THE COUNTERFEIT by Ralph DeFalco: Nolan floated up out of a dark silent sea and regained consciousness. He turned his face toward a light and began to hear voices from a distance. “How much?” “She said the whole packet. Full dose.” “People react differently.” Then, much nearer, as a whisper in his ear, “Just open your eyes. Slowly. Look down.” Nolan opened his eyes in narrow slits and shied away from the blazing light. He lowered his head and opened his eyes a bit more. “There you are. Welcome back,” said the soothing voice near to him. A woman. A stethoscope he barely saw but he could feel came away from his chest. “Relax. Breathe normally. Just look down.” Nolan opened his eyes a bit wider and found the painted concrete floor at his feet awash in light. He shook his head and tried to rise only to find he couldn’t move. His eyes adjusted and he saw he was tied to a chair, not uncomfortably, but securely. His vision cleared and he saw that duct tape bound his wrists to the arms of the chair, his ankles to its legs. “Relax, no one is going to hurt…

What is the title of your latest release?STRANGER THINGS HAVE HAPPENED What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book?Woman, in a slightly tipsy state, gets talked into going to therapy with a stranger to help her childhood best friend prove that a therapist can tell the difference between a real couple and a fake one. How did you decide where your book was going to take place?I wanted a smallish town about four hours drive from Los Angeles. And Clovis is where I grew up so I thought it would be perfect. Would you hang out with your heroine in real life?She’s a bit of a control freak, but I love her. And I love strong women, so yes, I would absolutely hang out with her. What are three words that describe your hero?Lol. I feel like I used them in the last answer. But how about: loyal, skeptical, and fun (iykyk) What’s something you learned while writing this book?Well, I already knew this, but perhaps it drove the point home: therapy is a wonderful tool and something I wish everyone had access to. I think access to mental health care is still something that has a long way to…

Rachmaninov, Cello Sonata in G minor, Op. 19 CONCERT BLACK is a novel about music, and all five of my picks have some connection to the book. This piece more than any other runs throughout the story. The main character, Cecil Woodbridge, practices it as a student at the Royal Academy of Music in London in the late 1940s, imagining himself one day on a concert stage. I think it’s the most beautiful piece of music ever written for the cello—yet it’s not particularly well known. I once saw Alissa Weilerstein perform it and break a string during the vigorous fourth movement. She calmly got up, walked offstage, changed her string, returned, and then she and the pianist picked back up where they left off. Tchaikovsky, Romeo and Juliet, TH 42 Woodbridge rehearses the “Dance of the Knights” movement with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra during a scene in CONCERT BLACK. He has an argument with one of the percussionists about tempo loosely inspired by a disagreement that Leonard Bernstein once had with a trumpet player. This was one of my late father’s favorite pieces of music. It’s extremely catchy and perfect for the ballet. My dad was known to max…

Excerpt from Lori Wilde | Exclusive Excerpt: OUR EXTRAORDINARY SUMMER by Lori Wilde: Three days had passed since Calista received word of her mother’s death. She stood on the wharf in Everly, Texas, waiting for the Hobby Island ferry. In her hand, she worried the golden ticket (which had arrived via express mail the night before) between her fingers, bending the stiff cardboard back and forth. How was she supposed to feel? Sad? Check. Remorseful? Check. Hurt? Check. Numb as hell? Check and double check. She turned the ticket over, her gaze snagging on the small, handwritten note on the back she’d read a hundred times since yesterday. Your mother’s final wish was for you and your sister to reconcile. Please come in remembrance of your beloved and let our island magic soothe your soul. A bitter laugh escaped her. Peace? What a farce. Peace was an ill-afforded luxury while her mother’s ghost still haunted every corner of her mind. Not when she and her sister hadn’t spoken to each other in five years. She tucked the showy ticket into her shoulder bag. The breeze picked up, carrying with it the briny sea scent. Fingering the locket around her neck,…

I always make playlists as I start a new project. Noise cancelling headphones and a good playlist can transport you from your workspace to the haunted mansion or magical underwater battleground that serves as your setting. (I used so much Florence and the Machine for the underwater battleground. Something about their music just makes me think of mermaids.)So for A CUTE LITTLE MURDER – a mystery set at an isolated Prohibition-era hotel, featuring two former crime-fighting friends who graduated from high school in the 2010s – I needed a several different styles of music to find the mental path to Bantam Island. And it turns out most of them are throwbacks or restyled throwbacks, and I think it suits me just fine. I do have a Spotify list of thirtyish songs under this link, but the five that I think serve as the best example are TOXIC (Scott Bradlee’s Postmodern Jukebox) – The original Britney Spears release was a little before our main character, Lainey Piper, former sidekick to online teen sleuth Harlow Drake, graduated from high school. But the chanteuse crooning about toxicity, when Lainey’s unsteady dynamic with her friend (Frenemy? Parter in crime-fighting?) – it just fits. Harlow…