Copyright © 2023 by James Spooner and Chris L. Terry, Excerpt from the story Glow by Camille A. Collins in the anthology BLACK PUNK NOW III. I was fourteen and in eighth grade, the very same age as George Stinney, when I learned he was the youngest person ever sentenced to death in America. He was so small the electric chair helmet slid around his head and they had to make adjustments before blasting the poor kid to kingdom come. The idea that a young Black boy would have brutally killed two white girls for no reason must have been just as preposterous to the people who wrongfully charged him as it was to anyone else with a single brain cell—but, as I wrote in my first history paper, “being Black means being expendable in America.” I got a D on the paper. My history teacher, Mrs. Sneed, asked to see me after class. “It’s a solid paper, Essie, but I just can’t get past the last sentence. It’s a very jarring remark and we talked so much about grounding things in fact. Please keep facts, dates, and statistics in mind next time. I think you’ll be much happier with…

I’ve only read your paranormal romance. Tell me about this suspense anthology you’ve done with Lisa Jackson and Lisa Childs. How did this collaboration come about? It was a suggestion from my editor at Kensington. Lisa Jackson wrote the first story and created the St. Cecilia’s School for Girls in Salzburg, Austria. The school is the connecting point for the three stories. I wrote the second story and then Lisa Childs did the third.   How does this work differ from writing your other types of stories? This one is more of a thriller. My full-length stories are romantic suspense that are heavy on the mystery. A shorter format makes it hard to do a mystery.   Do you enjoy doing an anthology? It was so much fun. Usually, writers work in solitude so when I get a chance to collaborate, I’m always excited. The short format is a challenge, but it’s always a creative way to write a story I’ve wanted to do, but didn’t feel as if it had enough to become a full-length novel.   It seems like each story has the past haunting the present. What do you find compelling about that theme? You’re right! I…

Danielle J. Dresser: Welcome to Fresh Fiction, Cassandra, Genevieve, and Caitlin! We are excited to chat with you about WALK AMONG US, set in the world of the RPG game, Vampires: The Masquerade. Were you all familiar with RPGs and this one in particular before you started the project?   Cassandra Khaw: Oh my god, yes. Genevieve Gornichec: I was not, but I always wanted to be! The world just always seemed so big that I didn’t know where to start. Caitlin Starling:  I was obsessed with the source books and clan novels back in the mid-2000s, though I never got a chance to play! I definitely screamed a little when I saw what project I’d been brought in on. * Vampires have always been popular—what do you think makes them so attractive to readers?   Cassandra: The prospect of immortality, of someone who is ancient and ageless and able to have anyone in the world but chooses you to satisfy their needs, I think people like that. I think people like the elegance and sophistication too, the gratuitous amount of black, the tragic nobility. Genevieve: I think there’s something about them that people are drawn to. It’s like, a lot of…

As I contemplated this week’s blog I was really struggling for a good topic, and decided to read instead of worrying over the blog…either an idea would come to me or it wouldn’t! The book I chose to read is titled Believe by Sharon Sala, but what it is really an anthology collection of three of her earlier releases; Miracle Man, When You Call My Name, and Shades of a Desperado. Now this poses an interesting set of questions…when you read a book that has three complete stories in it, do you count that as one book or as three separate stories? Do you like when the book is stories by just one author, or do you prefer two or more authors to have a story in one volume? Do you want each book to be a full length story, or when you buy an anthology do you prefer short stories that you can read here, there, and everywhere? Here my indecision comes shining through. I like to have more than one author in the book because it’s a great way to experiment with new authors, but I will only buy the anthology if an author I either love already…

Thanks so much for having me as your guest. I’m excited to have Berkley releasing SHOW AND TELL this month, the second book in a trilogy that began with THE FORTUNE HUNTER, which won the Holt Medallion for erotic romance.Here’s a little tidbit about SHOW AND TELL to whet your appetite. All her life Trinity Green has been a pleaser, first her mom and dad, then her husband. When she walks in on her husband with another woman, she realizes that trying to be the perfect wife with never a hair out of place or a smudge of makeup beneath her eyes was all for nothing. Now she’s going to indulge herself, with good food, delicious wine, and hot sex. Then she meets the perfect man under the oddest of circumstances… And Trinity also needs to get a job! That’s where my experiences working in an office atmosphere comes into play for the book. This spring I rented all the DVDs for “The Office.” You might think that show exaggerates what it’s really like, that no real boss is going to say or do stuff like that. But, swear it, they really do. I had a wonderful boss who drove…

Dating is hard. I mean, way harder than writing a book. Way harder than getting published. Even harder than walking in five inch stilettos. Mostly, I’m convinced, due to the inordinate amount of frogs out there trying to pass themselves off as Prince Charming. Some of my recent forays into Toadville: a man who, after three weeks of dating, admitted to me he was actually married, a guy who committed a felony (While on a date with me! Hiding from the cops – not my idea of foreplay.), a man who learned English from watching old Seinfeld reruns (If everything in your life relates back to Kramer, you have a problem.), and Hairy. Nope, I didn’t spell that wrong. The man was a walking wookie. But, the one that capped it all off, my favorite amphibious fellow, the man with one leg. That’s right, just the one. Not one to discriminate (Hey, love comes in all shapes, right?), I went out with him anyway. Until he dumped me. That’s right folks, I was dumped by the guy with one leg. See, what I mean? Dating is really hard. So, as I set out to write my latest story, I’ll admit,…

“Good Vibrations” in Red Sage Secrets Volume 21: Primal Heat is my first erotic romance novella. I had a blast writing it, and I’m thrilled to share the story with readers. My heroine, Lexi O’Brien, is funny and practical and dead-set on her goals. She’s about to give notice at her quirky aunt’s love shop where she works so she can enter a competitive MBA program. In the past, mixing her studies with dating has caused Lexi’s grades to suffer, so she’s decided to remain celibate for the next two looooooooong years. Then Gage Templeton, her favorite out-of-customer, shows up as she’s about to close shop for the night. Lexi realizes this might be her last chance to see him…and her last chance for some hot loving before she straps on her chastity belt. So she does what any bright girl in her position would do–she modifies her goals. Lexi’s new goal is to share one wild weekend with Gage and then go merrily on her way. However, Gage has other ideas. Unknown to Lexi, he was raised in her city and is moving home. He has no intention of settling for a short-term affair. So…Lexi’s plans are turned upside-down….

Why NOT write them? The connected series is a staple of most genre fiction. Mystery series have abounded for decades, as have fantasy and science fiction series, but only in the last fifteen years has the romance series become popular. At the beginning, they were rare. When an author did write them, as with Johanna Lindsey’s Malory series, they weren’t necessarily planned out ahead, the way they are now, with publishers announcing the series connections from the beginning. More often, authors wrote isolated connected books here and there, like Jayne Ann Krentz’s Gift of Gold and Gift of Fire (two of my all-time favorites). Eventually the romantic series came into its own, and now authors write them more often than not. My own School for Heiresses series, Regency-set historicals featuring the spirited graduates of Mrs. Harris’s School for Young Ladies, is the fourth series I’ve written. These unconventional heiresses who prove a match for society’s most irresistible rogues are connected only by their association with the school, but I’ve also written series where the characters were friends, royal half-brothers, and sisters. Here’s why I like writing them: The over-arching themes—in this particular series I include a running thread in the…