Every few years, a dance/theater production, “Theatre of the Vampires,” is staged in Boulder, Colorado (where I live), in a spooky, old theater. Happily, the show was performed this past Halloween and, since THE VAMPIRE SHRINK — my first book in a series about a Denver psychologist who becomes involved in the vampire underworld — had just been released, the producers asked me to appear. Hundreds of people passed my table — many stopping to claim a postcard, examine a copy of my book or ask a question. A wonderful time was had by all, and I sold every copy of the book I brought. (Many thanks to my publisher for the gorgeous, full-page ad they ran on the back page of the playbill!)Boulder is a strange place. Unlike the questions I’ve answered at my other book signing events, the one people asked most frequently here in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains was: “Is this nonfiction?” They were uniformly disappointed when I said the book was fiction. There’s definitely a different mindset here! These folks wanted to believe in the existence of vampires! But, in general, people ask three questions: How do you identify yourself as a writer? What…

I started out writing romantic suspense, murders, serial killers, little things like that. Maybe I was watching too many forensics shows or something. Then a bit of paranormal slipped in there. You know, ghosts, psychics, big hunky, sexy detectives (yes, my Max Series by JB Skully from LiquidSilverBooks.com). After that came the humor. It just sort of slipped in there with Ladybird Long (my hunky, sexy detective’s mom from my Max series), then went off the charts with my first Jennifer Skully book, Sex and the Serial Killer. Finally, there was the really spicy stuff. And Jasmine Haynes was born (the pseudonym, not the real Jasmine). My mom asked me why I couldn’t write children’s books. I said that generally speaking people didn’t get murdered by vile methods in children’s books, and, really, there wasn’t supposed to be any S-E-X either. So, ever since, I’ve been leading a sort of double life. Actually, make that a triple life. Eventually, however, I had to come out of the closet. To my family. My neighbors. My accounting coworkers! My boss!!!! Here’s just a few of the things people said to me. 10) I imagine your husband needs Viagra. (I’m not quite sure…

Michael Connelly Originally uploaded by freshfiction Oh, shucks, we missed Harry Bosch! He couldn’t come to the Texas Book Festival — but Michael DConnelly — yup under those shades — was able to read, take questions and sign his books.!! Woo Hoo we got one for Fresh Fiction. Visit FreshFiction.com to learn more about books and authors.

Here’s a little secret that not a lot of non-writers realize: Authors are not always in control of their characters. Some of us are rarely in control, which makes for the occasional difficult conversation with our editors. For example: Me: Um, about that synopsis. It doesn’t actually bear any resemblance to the finished book. You’re good with that, right? Editor: (long-suffering sigh) Well, I’m kind of used to that with you . . . I can’t help it. It’s not like I consciously set out to drive my poor editor nuts. It’s just that I’m happily writing along, following my lovely plotted-out outline (yes, I plot, I love to plot, I outline, I describe scenes, sometimes I even include snippets of what I think at the time is wickedly brilliant dialogue), and then when I start to write . . . Most of it ends up in the recycling bin. When I was writing ATLANTIS AWAKENING (coming to stores near you November 6th!), I had an especially tough time with this. You see, I fell victim to one of the other problems that can strike unsuspecting authors, usually with no warning: The “I know too much about my characters” syndrome….

This weekend in Clearwater, Florida our confirmed bachelor friend Dave Dion married his beautiful Cheryl and a happier couple I’ve yet to see. That our happily married daughter and son-in-law were also in attendance made the event that much more perfect. The intimate wedding chapel Dave and Cheryl chose was nestled in a small town just north of Clearwater, the place where they’d met and fallen head over heels. The golden aura from cream-colored candles enhanced the bride’s petite blonde beauty and beaded candlelight gown. The father of the bride did an admirable job of holding himself together as he gave his only daughter away. Good thing, because the rest of us were already blubbering by the time he managed to croak, “Her mother and I do.” Dave did an admirable job of holding back all but one tear as he said his vows. The bride, not nearly as fortunate, was thankfully wearing waterproof mascara. The highlight of their beautiful reception–for me, at least–was the “married couples dance,” when all the married couples are invited to dance and the MC says after a few minutes, “Will those who’ve been married less than 5 years please leave the dance floor,” etc….

I have a book due — well three chapters of it — and I can’t seem to find a heroine. Or a hero, either, really. But I have two villains. And some dead people. And a missing woman and her almost four year old son. And to complicate matters, I have grown to like one of the villains, but he’s done such heinous things that I can’t redeem him. I’ve never been in this position before. But I have to find a way out because this is the third book in the Ivory Nation Trilogy — a series about a white supremacy organization. The first book, IN PLAIN SIGHT was a prosecutor’s story. It was out last October. The second, BEHIND CLOSED DOORS, is a victim’s story. It’s out next month. My readers and I are going to need a third book. There are just too many questions unanswered, too much pain left unresolved. Too much fear surrounding us to allow us to just walk away. And here I sit with the words Chapter One staring at me and nothing more. My heroine’s name is Hannah. I don’t know why. It just presented itself last week. I thought she was…

You may not be as excited as I am, but if you spent the time and effort upgrading and making it look pretty, well, I’d say why not shout about it? DFW Tea Readers website has a new look with more information about teas, club meetings and signings in the Dallas Fort Worth area. If we’re missing any signings or appearances, please contact us! We’d be happy to add them! Visit FreshFiction.com to learn more about books and authors.

Jennifer Cruisie, Eileen Dreyer and Anne Stuart… who wouldn’t look forward to a new book by any of these authors?? Well in July St. Martin’s Paperbacks will have an intriguing treat for us avid readers. Apparantly, at some cocktail party at some conference the three tossed around an idea that sounds like a hollywood pitch session that combines the sisters of Charmed meets Bewitched with a boom chica bow mow soundtrack in the background…uh, that doesn’t sound good. The discussion actually started with erotic paranormal being the next big thing, then came the sisters with out of control powers, eccetera. It could have just been a joke to pass time at the party(wonder if mojitos were involved) but then a game of “chicken” ensued between the authors and TA-DA our reading novelty, The Unfortunate Miss Fortunes was born. Now this is not just an anthology with each having a separate story but one story written together by all three of them. I can’t wait!! Will you be able to tell who writes each chapter or thread of the plot by their writing voice? Or will it be a new trick for publishers to trot out to increase sales by grouping…

OK, there is NO WAY that I can possibly top the previous blog about Sara and Gwen going to the Lee & Bob Woodruff book signing for In An Instant. Speaking as a news junkie and the daughter of a nurse & doctor, Bob Woodruff’s story and recovery are remarkable. …and now on to my usual fluff… I have been busy reading again. It’s so nice being able to do that. Now if only I could have a nice peaceful weekend at home. My neighborhood association is having a Mayfest celebration at the neighborhood park tomorrow. I also have a dog days of summer celebration going on tomorrow. Bella (my four legged child) is especially looking forward to the dog days of summer celebration! I mean come on, free dog treats and possibly toys. She’ll be exhausted by the time we get back home. That said, so will I! And then next weekend we have Memorial Day. I am looking forward to going back home for memorial day weekend. I cannot say the same for the five and half hour drive and gas prices. I’m trying not to think about it. Anyone else out there tackling the highways for Memorial…

Its never a good thing if I don’t have time to read. The last two weeks have been crazy with family and work that I have not had time to read or blog which I normally do after work and on the weekends. I finally decided to get a queen sized bed for my spare room, but first I had to empty out the spare room (if you had ever seen my house you would understand what a true feat that was) to move furniture and make room for the new bed. Then my family invaded my nice and quiet house for several days around my sister’s graduation with her MBA. I never get much rest when family is in town. The days were jammed packed. I even took my father to work with me one day. (Hey, if people can take their kids to work, I can take my father to work.) Two days after they go back home I get a phone call from my other sister saying that while my father was fine he had fallen off his bicycle at was at the hospital. My father is an experienced cyclist, but it had been raining back home….