WICKED TEMPTATION is the latest and final book in my Nemesis Unlimited series.  If you’re unfamiliar with Nemesis, I like to describe it as “Leverage/old school A-Team in Victorian England.”  It’s a secret organization dedicated to righting wrongs in the highly stratified world of late 19th century England. In WICKED TEMPTATION, Nemesis’s spymaster, Marco Black, is reluctantly assigned to the case of Bronwyn Parrish.  Bronwyn is a young society widow who has been cheated out of her fortune.  Though nemesis usually assists the underclasses, Bronwyn’s case is special, and both she and Marco find themselves quickly enmeshed in a dangerous intrigue that takes them to Paris, and from Paris to points beyond, all the while fighting an explosive attraction. I’m particularly proud of WICKED TEMPTATION because it’s my twentieth published work.  My first romance novel, LADY X’S COWBOY, came out in 2006, and I’ve been writing and publishing fairly consistently ever since.  My work has spanned from straight historical, to literary fiction (written under my real name—Ami Silber), to paranormal historical adventure, to sci-fi, to steampunk, and now, with WICKED TEMPTATION, back to straight historical.  People ask me if I find it difficult to cross so many genres, to which…

I grew up loving science fiction.  My earliest sci-fi memory is of my dad coming home one rainy day and, with all the furtiveness of a spy, closing the shutters and hunkering down in front of the television to present my brother and me with his valuable prize: a bootlegged videocassette of Star Wars.  This was way back in the late ‘70s, when Star Wars mania gripped the world.  I don’t remember ever seeing the first film in the theater, but I do remember watching that video tape over and over again.  I think my brother and I saw it almost fifty times—maybe more.  We knew every line, and quoted them back to each other endlessly, much to our parents’ dismay. That bootlegged copy of Star Wars began a lifelong love of sci-fi that’s with me to this day.  Of course, Star Wars was always my first love.*  I remember lining up around the block to see The Empire Strikes Back, and how the audience clapped when C3-PO and R2-D2 appeared at the beginning of Return of the Jedi.  I thought Luke was a dork, and Han Solo indescribably cool.  And Princess Leia was not only a take-charge woman, but…

I went to a busy birthday party last night and found myself surrounded by the book people. Or in other words friends I know from one or another book related events who sorta knew each other in passing. We gathered at a couple of tables, talked about our lives and then the conversation turned to authors and books we’re reading. Not every one present read the same genre but we all did share one thing: we love to read. Most of us mourned the lack of time we have to read because there is some much out there we feel we’re missing, but we all had something to contribute. So what did we talk about? We talked about the upcoming FenCon next weekend. FenCon is a speculative fiction literary conference in Addison. They have guest authors, artists and musicians along with writing instructors, gather for a weekend of learning and fun. I go for the fun part, others go to hone their writing skills and others go for costuming or the musical performances. A group of us will get rooms in the hotel even though it’s local and spend a weekend of intensive fun — being away from our jobs…

Who: The Blades of the Rose What: A band of adventurers, scientists and explorers who follow the four points of the compass to find and protect the world’s magic. Where: All over the world! From the wind-swept steppes of Mongolia, to the gleaming islands in the Aegean Sea, to the rugged Canadian Rockies, and a few more surprising locations. Why: I’m an admitted fan of historical romance, but I’ve also enjoyed the freedom and diversity available in paranormal romance. After reading many, many books about spying dukes and bluestocking debutantes, I wanted to read something really different, something that combined the richness of a historical romance with the range and potential of paranormal romance. So, the BLADES OF THE ROSE were born. Romance readers are a diverse group, and I decided to bring that diversity to a historical setting. This means that not only do I have English heroes and heroines, I have a Canadian Indian hero, an American journalist heroine, and a black British hero—who happens to be a scientific genius. I loved writing each and every one of my heroes and heroines, not just for their diversity, but because they were fun and, above all, intelligent. It’s a…

Who’s back? Well, “she”, my summer reading muse has returned with a bang! Some days or months do you feel like you’re in a reading funk? Nothing good, same old same old. You know you’ve read that plot before, so many times before and you’re bored. Bored I tell you! It’s almost an effort to go to a store, or go to a site (hopefully, Fresh Fiction, nudge nudge) and look at what’s available. Read that vampire story, seen that type of hero, ho hum, another SEAL, wonderful, just what I don’t need. Hmm, what about that mystery? No, don’t want to learn about making lace, sorry, seriously, how many people can die in that small town? Well, what about a thriller, fast-paced, heart pounding, read faster thriller? Uh, dear, not working. Skip to the end. Sigh. Yes, dear friends, that is the slump I’m talking about. I’d resorted to rereading old favorites but even Georgette Heyer let me down. It was a sad sad time in my life. The reading muse was gone. I know there were good books out there, fellow readers were raving about this novel, that author, but sorry, nothing was grabbing me by the throat….