I guess I am the classic example of the woman who couldn’t decide what she wanted to do when she grew up. Well, I did settle on “writer.” But I started off with newspaper articles, then slopped into novels with a kids’ science-fiction book for Scholastic.
Since I’d read mostly science fiction and mystery, I didn’t even know the romance genre existed. But when a friend asked me if I wanted to try writing one, I found that these were novels all about the relationship thread that I’d loved in the books I had read, like The Puppet Masters, by Robert Heinlein, which is almost classic romantic suspense.
After writing straight romances, I found I wanted to do stories with more plot, which was why I gravitated toward romantic suspense, like the Rockfort Security books, which all feature a man and a woman falling in love while determined killers threaten their lives. And I also love creating a community of people like the Rockfort agents who will go the extra mile for each other.
You see both these characteristics in PRIVATE AFFAIR, where Olivia Winters and Max Lyon have to pose as an engaged couple to investigate the murder of one of Olivia’s former classmates. She was the class beauty. He was the bad boy a few classes ahead. As they dig into the murder mystery, their fake engagement heats up. But they need the other Rockfort agents to help save their lives.
Another good example is BAD NIGHTS. In that book, the first in the Rockfort series, Jack Brandt volunteered to infiltrate a militia organization bent on wreaking havoc in the nation’s capital. When his cover is blown, he’s beaten within an inch of his life but escapes and ends up naked and confused outside the vacation cabin of Morgan Rains. Knowing he’s putting her in danger, he tries to leave as soon as he is able. But it’s already too late, and he and Morgan must run for their lives. Then all the other Rockfort men play a strategic role in rescuing Morgan when the militia leader captures her.
I love to spice up my romantic suspense with woo woo elements. I’m doing that now with the Decorah Security series which involves a detective agency where all the agents have paranormal powers.
And I’ve also gone back to my first love, science fiction, with an Off-World series, set in the far future. I’ve had the most fun with stories like NIGHTFALL and CHRISTMAS HOME, set on Palamar, which was settled by men and their sons, fleeing a plague that killed almost all the women on their home planets. After fifteen years, bride ships are finally arriving. So we’ve got macho virgin guys trying to cope with sexually experienced women, which makes for some very interesting situations.
But whatever subgenre I’m working in, I like writing stories with a happy ending. No matter what kind of dangers and traumas I put my h/h through, they’re going to have their HEA. Just like all the guys in Rockfort Security, who are now happily married and looking toward the future.
Author Biography
New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Rebecca York’s writing has been compared to that of Dick Francis, Sherrilyn Kenyon, and Maggie Shayne. Her award-winning books have been translated into twenty-two languages and optioned for film. A recipient of the RWA Centennial Award, she lives in Maryland near Washington, DC, which is often the setting of her romantic suspense novels.
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