Researching the Columbian Exposition for The Gilded Cage, I was fascinated by the history behind George Washington Ferris’ gigantic, people-carrying wheel. I took copious notes. In 1889, the city of Paris erected the Eiffel Tower, an iron structure that stood 300 meters (well over 900 feet) tall and cast its magic over the city. In 1890 in Chicago architect Daniel Burnham, planning the Columbian Exposition, knew he needed a spectacular attraction, something that would outshine the Eiffel Tower. Engineers tried, suggesting crude toboggan schemes and all sorts of things. Eiffel offered to build a taller tower. None of it appealed until a young engineer sketched out a huge wheel with cars to hold people while they leisurely enjoyed a birds’ eye view of the city on their circular trip. At first, Burnham rejected the wheel as too fragile, and Ferris spent his own money on safety studies. He hired engineers and recruited investors. Then he submitted the plans to Burnham again. His plan was chosen. The first wheel had more than 100,000 parts, including the almost 90,000-lb. axle required to turn the wheel. Thirty-six passenger cars held 40 revolving seats plus a small serving area which offered champagne and light…

We had a chance to ask a couple of questions of the SMP Romance authors about two of their favorite things: holiday movies and Halloween costumes. Here’s what they had to say! Favorite Holiday Movie Ruth Logan Herne Best-selling, multi-published author Ruth Logan Herne is the author of nearly thirty novels and novellas through traditional publishers and her own independent works. She loves God, her family, country, coffee, chocolate and dogs, and wishes possums would leave the cat food on the side porch alone. Seeker Collection WEBSITE | FACEBOOK | BLOG It’s a Wonderful Life Donna Alward While bestselling author Donna Alward was busy studying Austen, Eliot and Shakespeare, she was also losing herself in the breathtaking stories created by romance novelists like LaVyrle Spencer, Judith McNaught, and Nora Roberts. Several years after completing her degree she decided to write a romance of her own and it was true love! Five years and ten manuscripts later she sold her first book and launched a new career. While her heartwarming stories of love, hope, and homecoming have been translated into several languages, hit bestseller lists and won awards, her very favorite thing is when she hears from happy readers! Donna lives…

Sometimes characters ease into a writer’s mind and other times they stomp through our brains and demand their story be told. Samantha Carlton, the heroine of my new release, TELL ME AGAIN, did a lot of stomping before getting her own happily-ever-after. She’d been the perfect sidekick in the previous two books in the series and her snarky comments added a bit of levity when things got too serious. She was the one who could always be counted on to say exactly what she was thinking , but that’s much easier to do when commenting on someone else’s love life than your own. As fun as Sam was in the first two books, I quickly discovered her humor masked a lot of pain. This woman had a past to overcome, and when the niece she never knew she had showed up on her doorstep, it spurred her into action. One of the things I loved most about Sam was her big heart—or as her friends call it ‘her gooey center’. She’s all tough on the outside but she cares so much about the kids she works with at the summer camp she runs and, of course, about her girlfriends. She…

As a kid, my family always had pets. Dogs, cats, a goat, a pig, ducks we called Salt and Pepper, a rabbit… you name it, I think we probably had it. Maybe that’s why animals appear in all my books. It’s hard to imagine not having a pet of some sort. One particular dog stands out. Her name was Queenie, and she adopted us. I was eight or nine years old, and one day while playing outside, this little black and white dog trotted up to me. We later learned she was a purebred Boston terrier, but that day she was just a dog that wanted to play. She didn’t have a collar, and we’d never seen her around the neighborhood before, but she seemed well-taken care of. Our dad said not to get attached to her as she obviously belonged to someone. Ha! We were already attached to her. We named her Queenie and as far as she was concerned, we kids (there were four of us) belonged to her. If one of us got in trouble with our dad and got a stern talking to, Queenie would go to a corner of the room, turn her back to…

Think about all your favorite authors, and I bet the attribute they have in common is their willingness to put everything on the page. They have authentic voices, tell stories of unique, yet relatable characters who are challenged by a set of circumstances that, though they might not be yours, you could imagine what you’d do if life threw that curve ball. To put that kind of story on paper, you have to be wired in a particular way. This fact was taught to me by my kind, talented, incredibly smart daughter. A couple years ago (she was about sixteen), my daughter was asked to give a talk about mothers for a Mother’s Day event. She was nervous, but game. I spent all week looking forward to her magnificent dissertation on the glories of motherhood, using me, of course, as her shining example. I was very careful not to pressure her, not to even admit I was looking forward to this opus. Normally, as the writer in the family, I’d offer to edit the speech, but not this time. I wanted to be surprised, to hear it as a piece of performance art. My anticipation wasn’t giddy, but rather measured….

When I was in first grade, my mom made me a black cat costume for Halloween. It involved sewing a hood with cat ears and a tail onto one of my black leotards from dance class and a cat mask with a thin piece of elastic that ran went around the back of my head. I loved that costume. If memory serves, I wanted to wear the costume post-Halloween, because everybody wants to be a cat. Right? Since then there were gypsies and hobos and Indians. In college there was Marilyn Monroe, Cher, and the 80s-specific year I dressed as my Swatch Watch. I enjoy coming up with costume ideas as much as I enjoy wearing them which brings up a lot of questions about my identity. I’ve discovered that, when it comes to costumes, people fall into two camps: those who love them and those who don’t. There isn’t a lot of gray area. Being the former, I’ve wondered about the latter. Is it the trouble of putting together a specific look? Or have they only experienced uncomfortable costumes? Is the silliness of dressing as someone else off-putting? Or did they just not care about getting candy on Halloween?…

October is my favorite month in San Diego. The summer visitors and horse race crowds have gone home, leaving the beaches almost empty and relieving the traffic on the highways. Thanks to all the back-to-school sales, I’ve overfilled my file cabinet with cheap office supplies. The weather has become what everyone expects from Southern California – low 70s during the day and 60s at night. I only wish the days weren’t so short! I rely on walks on the beach to generate ideas and solve problems for my books. There’s something about walking in the sand and listening to the waves that makes my brain work better. I used to carry a digital recorder to take down ideas – in some ways it’s almost like a dream state and I’d easily forget the great plot idea that cleared my current red herring – but now I rely on my cell phone so I can take notes and keep going. Of course, one of the best parts of October is Halloween! Is there a better holiday than Halloween for a store that combines chocolate and books? In BEHIND CHOCOLATE BARS, chocolatier Michelle Serrano and book store owner Erica Russell are preparing…

Don’t you just love a spunky, confident and capable heroine? I sure do. When my husband returned from a white water rafting trip with a friend, he showed me the video and was so impressed with one of the river guides who was a woman. I have to admit, I was intrigued enough that my brain started moving toward a scenario of a heroine as a river guide. What would she be like? Why would she love the river and white water rafting so much? So I dug deep to find out. In TORRENTS OF DESTRUCTION, Katie Gallagher is the middle child, sandwiched between two brothers. She loves her brothers deeply, even if they tend to bicker back and forth as many siblings do. Their father died and left them the family business—the river rafting guide service. Their mother disappeared and that’s a bone of contention between Katie and her brothers in that they believe their mother met with foul play and is dead while Katie believes her mother abandoned them. Although this core difference of belief could rip them apart, the Gallagher siblings rely on their love for one another and sense of responsibility. As I learned more about…

I’m excited to be here on Fresh Fiction, one of my favorite websites. I’m also excited to tell you about my new book, Seducing the Marquess. In order to do that, I decided to step aside and let my characters tell you a little bit about themselves, and how they got into the mess that is their love story. First I present to you, Richard, Marquess of Devon. “Hello everyone, Lord Devon here. This is a bit awkward for me since I’ve never appeared on a website before. I hope to tell you a bit about myself because my author insisted. She threatened to take away my happily ever after if I didn’t make this appearance, so here we are, old chap. “First of all, I must tell you I never planned on having the type of marriage I ended up with. Who needs all the mess and entanglement of love? Well, it turned out I needed it. But my dear wife, Eugenia, went about it in such a bizarre way that we almost lost each other. You see, she found this little book that . . . . Well, maybe I should let her tell you about it.” (He…

When I received feedback from the early readers of my book, THE BROKEN TRAIL, I was prepared for all sorts of questions. It’s a contemporary romance and it deals with some pretty deep stuff so I was braced for anything, but not for the one I got the most often. No, that question was “Can I get the recipe for that tomato pie she makes?” There’s a lot of food in the book since Katherine, the main character, enjoys baking and in her hectic life hadn’t had time for it. Stuck in a small town in Maine she’s finally got time on her hands and she uses it to make apple pies, vegetable soup, bread, and on her very first night there, homemade cocoa though that turns out to be a bit of a mess. Out of all of those culinary delights, the tomato pie always stands out so I thought I’d share it here. Although considered a southern creation, I make it when my New England garden is right at the end of the season, giving up the last of the big, ripe tomatoes. Katherine’s Tomato Pie One pie dough – (I cheat and use the kind you buy…