One of the early reviews of THE ARROWS OF THE HEART notes that the heroine, Karyn—while appearing to have been the meek and obedient daughter—has actually always been a square peg in a round hole. When I asked my fan group on Facebook (Jeffe’s Closet) what they’d like me to talk about, one reader suggested Karyn’s unconventional upbringing. It’s true that, in my fantasy world society known for its oppressive conventions, especially regarding the role of women, Karyn af Hardie has grown up in an unusual way. On the surface—especially when she appears in earlier books in the series—Karyn has always seemed like a conventional Dasnarian woman. Her rank in the Dasnarian Empire is very important to her. She clings to her arranged marriage with tenacity because, for a Dasnarian woman, her husband is everything. Since women in this culture cannot handle money, and usually aren’t taught to read or count, having a husband, or father or brothers, to protect and care for them is critical. It’s a matter of survival. Also, like all women of her station and upbringing, Karyn has been carefully taught to defer to men in every way. Defiance is not an option. See again: a…

Writing my latest novel, FREQUENCY, was a blast. The book is a YA retelling of the Pied Piper fairy tale that’s steeped in music—hard rock and EDM, primarily—so it gave me a chance to get weird and imaginative with how different forms of music affect different people in a supernatural way (plus, any chance to reference Motörhead in a novel is a gift from the universe). But one obstacle I kept encountering is that paranormal stuff allows for laziness. How does the hero escape the clutches of the villain? Magic! How does the villain know about the well-laid scheme against them? Werewolf! You get the idea. All these tricks are easy and played out, and as a reader, I hate books where paranormal elements were conveniently placed because the author obviously wanted to knock off early for lunch. So if you’re writing paranormal literature, here are a few questions to ask yourself to keep your writing challenging, entertaining, and grounded in just enough in reality to create real conflict. 1. “What if there was no magic?” The most important question. Back when I was brainstorming worlds for a sci-fi publishing imprint, I had a colleague who asked this all the…

Right after we got engaged, my now-husband and I traveled to India with my mother. We met some of her Indian coworkers, and their eighteen-year-old daughters, who were planning careers in science and engineering. Still, these young women expected to choose husbands from among men vetted for them by parents and match-makers, and then have happy marriages. They told me that their parents had done well for them so far, and they expected their choice of mates would be good as well. For most of recorded history, marriages between young people have been arranged by parents and elders, though fiction often portrays first love and sexual attraction that throws arranged marriages into chaos. In my historical fiction about Viking Age Norway, I have created a mix of arranged and chosen marriages, with the chance of their success having much more to do with the personality and choices of those in the marriage than how it begins. I’m glad not to have had an arranged marriage for myself, but having been married for twelve years now, I think that some of the skills needed to make an arranged marriage work are also helpful in a chosen marriage. In fiction, I love…

Hi there! Thanks for having me. There are so many beloved tropes in romance, sometimes it’s hard to choose which ones will fit a particular story. When I’m starting a new book, I always begin with my characters: who they are, what they want most, and how they plan to get it. With COULDN’T ASK FOR MORE, Bryan, the hero, came to me first. A wealthy textiles executive, he’s handsome and successful. Yet, he still feels the need to prove himself to his father by making sure the family business remains prosperous, and he’s willing to do the work to make that happen. When my heroine, Alexis, stepped onto the page, I saw her as a young, driven fashion designer. She has big plans to shake things up inside the fashion industry, but she is savvy enough to know she’ll have to work her way there. She’s not one to pass up a golden opportunity, and the upcoming Carolina Music and Fashion Festival is just that. The small, regional festival will be the perfect launching point for her new fashion line, Krystal Kouture One. Bryan and Alexis have something of a mutual goal—they are both seeking success in their careers, in…

In my latest release, CUT AND RUN, medical examiner Dr. Faith McIntyre is called to the hospital when unconscious and critically injured FBI Agent Macy Crow is brought to the emergency room after a vicious hit and run. The Quantico-based agent is Faith’s mirror image and her existence brings into question Faith’s adoption, which was always shrouded in secrets. Could Macy be the twin sister Faith never knew she had? And what was Macy doing in a dark Austin alley? More importantly, who and what are behind the clues Macy has left that lead Faith and Texas Ranger Mitchell Hayden to the graves of three women who disappeared thirty years before? Is it possible Macy found a connection between those graves and a pregnant girl who has been missing for months? CUT AND RUN is chocked full of emotion, beginning with the opening scene featuring Paige, a pregnant teen who has been locked in a windowless room for months and is days away from going into labor. She’s as terrified of giving birth alone as she is frightened of her brutal jailor. I’m hoping readers feel Paige’s desperation as strongly as I did when I wrote this scene. The relationship between Faith…

HOTEL CALIFORNIA (aka Mission Inn) in Riverside, CA How many of you know the cover of the Eagle’s album Hotel California? That’s actually a picture of the Mission Inn located in Riverside, California. It’s a fabulous hotel with lots of interesting nooks and crannies. I went there for the Historical Romance Retreat and joined in the scavenger hunt. The organizer (Renee Bernard) did a great job, and the hotel staff members were wonderful as they directed us around the hotel, former abbey, and former mission. I don’t have room here for all the pictures I took, but I’ll give you an idea. First off, here’s the scavenger hunt list. Here’s items 2 and 3—the oldest bell and the biggest bell. You can’t read the plaque, but it says this bell of Spanish origin dates from 1247 AD and is considered the oldest bell in Christendom. Item 4 – Napoleon and Josephine were the two birds. We searched a long time for Item 8 – the smallest door still in use. The tiniest one pictured isn’t still in use, but the other two were. Item 11 the Glockenspiel was huge. It’s hard to see here, but there are two figures inside,…

10. The world. The planet Dion is absolutely breathtaking! Although my characters are confined to a small piece of land protected by energy shields (the result of a terraforming experiment gone wrong), the outside planet is characterized by brilliantly colored streams of water. As Vela says, “If a nebula broke off and fell into the water, this is what it would look like.” In addition, when the rain falls on the energy shields, the water explodes into different colors depending on the weight of the drop. 9. The food. Land is scarce, so there’s not enough food to feed the colony. Enter the Aegis, who have accepted a genetic modification so that they may convert food into energy more efficiently. The nutrition is then extracted from them via a pill and distributed to the rest of the people. However, when eating becomes your duty, and you must imbibe food all day long, it is no longer pleasurable. Thus, the food preppers’ task is to produce the must luscious, mouth-watering spreads possible, in order to entice the Aegis into taking one more bite.  8. The sacrifice. An Aegis may get to experience the taste of real food, and they have the…

When I was about 15, I remember sneaking into a bookstore with my best friend and peeking around aisles to make sure no one was watching us. We would wind up in the baby book section to take a peek at naming books. We knew that we were only there for research, after all, both of us loved to write, but we worried what others would think. Finally, she got up the courage and the cash to buy one those naming books. We spent hours on her bedroom floor, huddled over this book learning about which names were recommended for boys and girls. It even had a nifty little section at the bottom that gave suggested sibling names that were cute with the one you selected. Naming characters and places has always been one of the most important parts of my process. A name informs what a character is going to be like. I usually start out with a personality sketch, who I want this character to be, what they are to the story and from there, I try to select a name. Since I write a lot of fantasy that is informed by history, I try to select names…

TUNES Excerpt Copyright © 2018 KC Enders Gavin Gracyn’s gone. She fucking left me in the middle of the night, buck-ass naked and in her bed. I waited more than an hour for her to come back from wherever she’d scampered off to, almost certain that she’d just gone out to grab us some breakfast. Took a shower and threw on my clothes from last night. Well, my board shorts because my favorite fucking shirt was gone, too. No Gracyn. No note. No shirt. Nothing. The sun blazes down on my bare shoulders as I walk back to my shitty motel. It’s petty and stupid, but I’m too pissed off to put on a different T-shirt. It’s the principle. My fist connects with Ian’s door with three solid thumps. The last thing I want to do is walk in on him getting ass when my chick had taken her fill and bailed on me. No fucking way I feel like dealing with his shit over this. I don’t want to hear it. “Dude, you good?” I call as I hit the door again. “S’open,” Nate yells. “Hey, didn’t think we’d see you today. She leaves tomorrow, right? That chick you’ve…

My debut contemporary romance, WILD ON MY MIND, combines three gifts that my grandparents gave me growing up:  their love and support, long family road trips, and an annual pass to Pittsburgh Zoo and PPG Aquarium.   Before their deaths this past year, my maternal grandparents were two of my biggest supporters.  My grandfather and I even worked at the same company where he could be found at his desk, three days a week until his death at age 94. I hope that their caring spirit and work ethic lives on in characters of mine.  In WILD ON MY MIND, Lou is partially based off of my grandfather.  The eighty-year-old veterinarian helps the hero, Bowie, run a local zoo.  But Lou is more than a coworker…he’s family. He’s the father that Bowie never had.  The elderly man gave Bowie a home when the formerly troubled boy was kicked out of foster care on his eighteenth birthday.  Together, the two of them are raising Bowie’s eleven-year-old daughter. Lou also serves as Bowie’s confidant through all of the ups-and-downs of his relationship with the heroine, Katie.  He has faith in his adopted son even after Bowie confesses that he’d engineered mean tricks back…