People often ask writers, “Where do you get your ideas?” Neil Gaiman said, “I make them up… Out of my head.” Robertson Davies said, “I don’t get them; they get me.” Some authors say something visual – a news clip on TV or a magazine article—might spark an idea. Some say their ideas come from other people, other industries, the act of writing, or God. Confession: my ideas come from nowhere. Yup, they just appear. Out of nowhere. Well, okay. Maybe the idea rises from some misty spot in my subconscious mind—the unknown world where anything is possible, where I’m still a child bursting with wonder and a sense of possibility, asking “What if…?” or “I just want to see if there’s another world over that hill…” When I was a child growing up in Canada, we often visited a family friend, an eye surgeon who lived in a palatial mansion full of spiral staircases and hidden rooms. I loved getting lost in that old house—I often expected to tumble through a door into Narnia. But I didn’t need to explore a mansion to find magic. The forest trail right behind our house led me to a giant, spongy moss…

Hardly a day goes by that we don’t have interesting things happen here in Virgin River. Hi, I’m Jack Sheridan, owner of Jack’s Bar, and sooner or later I manage to find myself in the middle of what ever’s going on. Not so long ago Pastor Noah Kincaid had to hitch a ride into town after his truck slid off the road and down a hill. He was avoiding a deer, but we’ve had trouble with that stretch of road before—narrow, winding roads, no guardrails. So I rounded up a few people to help tow him up the hill and while we were working on that an interesting fellow stopped by to see what was up. He asked if we needed a hand, but we had it covered. Clay Tahoma was on his way to Nathaniel Jensen’s Large Animal Veterinary Clinic. Turns out the man is a Vet Tech and farrier and will be working with Nate. It also didn’t escape my notice that he’s Native American: bronze skin, high cheekbones, hair down past his waist. Nate dropped by the bar on his way home from a house call at a ranch nearby and gave me the skinny—turns out Clay…

Every year, the power goes out here in snowy, rainy, windy New England. Hundreds of thousands of homes lose electricity, ours being one of them. I learned something during the ice storm that crippled our area for over a week. My mother-in-law lives a couple of towns away…alone. So we had her come over right away. My daughter and her boyfriend called to say they were at his mother’s house, so they were safe! But as soon as they heard that we had ENTERTAINMENT, they came right over. It was fun to have everyone “camping” in our home. I have a gas stove, so I was able to cook. We have a gas fireplace, so there was ambiance and some heat to one room. The generator provided heat and hot water to the rest of the house. It’s funny what you decide you value when you have to pick and choose what to turn on and what to live without. We have an electricity cleaner. (The “dirty electricity” coming from the generator can’t power electronics which are too apt to be damaged by energy with surges.) So, we had to decide on one electronic item to use with the electricity…

Hi. I’m thrilled to be here at Fresh Fiction, even if it does mean I have to leave Torvald unrequited for a little longer. He’s the hero of the book I’m working on at the moment, the fourth in the Immortal Brotherhood series, and he so owns my heart right now. But it’s Gunnar’s turn to shine this month.IMMORTAL CHAMPION, on the shelves now, is the story of Gunnar’s struggle to find love and break the curse laid on him back in the 9thcentury, nearly 600 years before the time of the story. The decades around 1400 are some of the most troubled in English history: a king overthrown and murdered, the man who stole the throne desperately ill, rebellion after rebellion among the nobles, ongoing threats from Scotland and France, the Hundred Years War. None of that would make any difference to the cursed warriors of the Immortal Brotherhood, who spend most of their time hiding in the woods as they shift between man and beast—except that in middle of these trying times, a winter unlike any other comes crushing down on the countryside, driving them to seek shelter from the bitter cold. Gunnar manages to find a warm…

Hi, everyone (waving madly). I’m thrilled to be here. Thanks for inviting me, Fresh Fiction. I was trying to come up with something deep and meaningful to discuss today, but since nothing came to mind, I decided to go with shallow and fun. So I hope you’re ready to dive into my favorite subject—heroes. I love creating alpha heroes. They’re usually tortured men who prowl both sides of the line that separates good from evil. They might not be the kind of men I’d settle down with in real life, but it’s always fun to explore possibilities. My most recent hero, Utah from ETERNAL PREY, is a man with the soul of a Utahraptor. You don’t get much more dark and dangerous than that. He’s the scourge of Portland, Oregon’s vampire population. A vampire killed his brother, and now he’s returning the favor. No vampire is safe from his revenge. Too bad he has to team up with Lia, a vampire wannabe who is currently leading the Northeast Vampires. But saving humanity comes before personal hatreds. Can an ancient predator and a soon-to-be vampire find lasting love? You bet. Edge is the hero of my work in progress, WICKED EDGE,…

As a child, I lived in two worlds … the world of books where imaginary friends, adventures, and romance swept me away … and the real world where my family had its share of problems.  My father used to drink a lot, making our home life a little unpredictable; that was his escape.  Mine was into the world of imagination. In books, I was transported to far away places.  I had incredible adventures with imaginary characters.  I solved mysteries, ran with the bulls, sailed down the Mississippi, crossed the wild west in a covered wagon, panned for gold, learned how to stomp grapes into wine and fell in love over and over again. There was no limit to the places I could go, the adventures I could have.  Libraries and bookstores were my favorite places.  I devoured all the usual series books.  I loved heroines like Nancy Drew.  And my mother introduced me to some of her favorite series from when she was a kid like Cherry Ames, a nurse who went to war and Beverly Gray a journalist in a time where women didn’t have those kinds of jobs.  Anyone remember them? As I got older, my mother passed…

Hi everyone! It’s great to be here and I have to thank the gang at Fresh Fiction for inviting me. I’ve been learning something about “author branding” lately and trying like heck (okay I said heck but you know I mean the other h word – the hot one) to come up with something that suits me, the person, and me the author. These are not separate people to me. I don’t know that I have a public persona. I’m just me, always. I’m the sort of person who decorates a lovely staircase with a trailing philodendron under a skylight. It’s all very elegant and pretty. Until, in a fit of irreverence, I slipped a purple glass garden slug on the side of a step overlooking my front hall. Yes. . .  look closely and you’ll see my irreverent side. In every story I write, there’s an edge of irreverent humor I cannot and will not suppress. I take almost nothing seriously. Life’s too short and if you like a little fun in your romance novels, sooner or later, you’ll find me. And today, you’ll find me in full form in STROKE OF MIDNIGHT, my newest release from Carina Press….

Below is the transcript of an interview from Witch Central, the online radio talk show where Evan Trueblood, Molly Everhart Trueblood’s husband, is a part-time talk show host. Witch Central features everything witchy all the time, the talk show dedicated to witches, vamps, weres and other creatures of the night, both in and out of the closet, and only supernats willing to register with the show’s producer are permitted to sign on and listen. The interview is totally fictional, as actually giving it would thrust Jane from the skinwalker-closet, and she isn’t ready for that. Not at all. But if she was, well, this is how it might go. We break into the middle of the show, just back from a commercial break. Evan: Welcome back listeners. As you all know, after reading the first three books in the Skinwalker series, SKINWALKER, BLOOD CROSS, and MERCY BLADE, I have problems with Jane Yellowrock. She is on my personal BLEEPlist. That said, I’m known for being willing to reconsider my stance on every kind of supernat, so with fairness in mind, tonight we welcome my wife, Molly Everhart Trueblood, our interviewer—and an earth witch—and Jane Yellowrock—skinwalker and all around dangerous woman….

Hi, everyone! It’s great to be blogging at Fresh Fiction today. I have a secret to confess.  I have a dark side. Very dark.  When folks look at me, I’ve often been told I look (at least) semi-sweet and fairly innocent.  Ha. Such a lie. Maybe it’s the soccer mom persona that fools them. When I’m alone and I’m writing, that sweet act vanishes.  Instead, I let the darkness out.  That darkness really came out when I wrote my “Deadly” romantic suspense series for Grand Central Publishing. In those books, I jumped right into the minds of serial killers. My husband worried that I was a bit too comfortable writing from the killer’s perspective. Actually, I still think he worries that—I’ve seen the suspicious glances that he gives to me. However, it’s not just my villains who have such a lethal edge. Instead, my heroes and heroines often have some rather lethal characteristics, too.  In DEADLY HEAT, my heroine is a fire fighter. Lora can’t be afraid of death—she faces it every day.  But when her lover is killed in a blaze, the desire for vengeance consumes her, and it’s that lust for revenge that creates the shadows that surround…

Anyone who’s seen the movie It’s a Wonderful Life remembers the scene where Clarence the angel shows George Bailey that his never being born doomed his wife Mary to life as a spinster librarian. Oh, the horror.  While it’s hardly surprising a movie made in 1946 would reinforce such ideas about librarians, surprisingly the “Marian the Librarian” stereotype still persists to this day.  As someone who has worked in the library field for twenty years, I’m always happy when I read a book or see a movie featuring a librarian that knocks the sensible shoe wearing, glasses on a chain, hair in bun, shushing stereotype on its butt. Maya Sinclair, the heroine of my latest novel, The Paris Secret, is a librarian. And you better believe I left out all the outdated, stereotypical librarian nonsense when I created her.  I wanted Maya to be able to join the following ranks of my favorite fictional librarians. I have no idea if succeeded. But if readers find her to be even half as smart, sexy, and resourceful as the librarians listed below, then I’ll be happy. Gloria Mundy/Foul Play-I saw this movie when I was twelve and it’s been a favorite ever…