Q & A with Author Gale Martin

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What practical advice do you have for beginning writers?

Show your work to people outside your family--preferably to other writers--but don't take other writers' criticism to heart. Examine all of it and look for commonalities before you start editing. Oh, and don't despair if your family doesn't even like your writing. They might not be comfortable with the you the evidences itself within the confines of fiction. Don't sweat it. You will also lose friends over your writing. I did, so I suppose they weren't that good of friends to begin with. Never let a bad review get you down for long. Not everyone will like your writing.

How do you network online to promote your book?

Say thank you to book bloggers, many of whom invest countless hours in the interest of advancing the work of writers like me and providing value to their readers, and Retweet their Tweets (or share their posts on Facebook). Leave comments on others' blogs, talk to people on Twitter, and take a sincere interest in others. Offer to review books for their site or offer a guest post. Do review swaps or swap guest posts with other writers. I know it's hard but try hard NOT to burn your bridges with anyone. Do review swaps or swap guest posts with other writers.

What makes the perfect book blog? 

I like bloggers who follow-through when they say they will review your book. For me, perfect blogs are like living rooms you'd feel comfortable settling into for a while, and seem like comfy places to hang out. I like bloggers who respond to your comments and have RSS feeds for their posts you can subscribe to. Sometimes bloggers have cupcakes or coffee cups instead of starred ratings and that is always fun to post on my social media site--that I got four cupcakes.

What inspired you to write your book?

Travel is a muse for me. I was most impressed by Shaker Village when I visited in 2005. I wrote a short story featuring my viewpoint character, then I shared it with my writing group, who said they would definitely read more if I added onto the story.

Whose footsteps would you say you have followed? What authors do you admire?

I have so many authors I admire but some contemporary ones from who I learned a lot are for Karen Joy Fowler for The Jane Austen Book Club (CLEVER!), Ann Patchett for Bel Canto(blending beauty and grit), Judith Guest for Ordinary People (authentic, meaningful, and powerful dialogue), and William Goldman for The Princess Bride (sheer, playful ingenuity).

Gale Martin is an award-winning writer of contemporary fiction who plied her childhood penchant for telling tall tales into a legitimate literary pursuit once she hit midlife. She began writing her first novel at age eleven, finishing it three and a half decades later.

Her first novel, DON JUAN IN HANKEY, PA, is a humorous homage to Don Giovanni, Mozart's famous tragicomic opera about the last two days of Don Juan's life. It was named a Finalist in the 2012 National Indie Excellence Awards for New Fiction. Her second novel GRACE UNEXPECTED is wryly witty women's fiction featuring Grace Savage, a 30-something protagonist with a heart of gold, wrapped in lead.

Gale would commit a misdemeanor to score some Babybel cheese and goes weak-kneed for hummingbirds. She is a wife and mother of one and a communications director by profession. 

She blogs about opera--the art form, not the platform and is an opera reviewer for Bachtrack, an online site featuring classical performance worldwide. She can name any aria in three notes. Okay, five notes, perfectly sung, with full orchestration.
She has a master of arts in creative writing from Wilkes University. She lives in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, which serves as a rich source of inspiration for her writing.

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Thirty-something Grace Savage has slogged through crummy jobs and dead-end relationships with men who would rather go bald than say “I do”.  In search of respite from her current job, she visits Shaker Village in New Hampshire. Instead of renewal, she learns that Shaker men and women lived and worked side by side in complete celibacy. 

When her longtime boyfriend dumps her instead of proposing, Grace avows the sexless Shaker ways. Resolved to stick to a new plan – the Shaker Plan – despite ovaries ticking like time bombs, she returns to her life in Pennsylvania. Almost immediately, she's juggling two eligible bachelors: Addison, a young beat reporter; and True, an anthropology professor. Both men have soul mate potential to test her newfound Shaker-style self-control, and Grace seems to be on the fast track to a proposal… until secrets revealed deliver a death rattle to the Shaker Plan.

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Casting the role of "Pilgrim" featuring Terry Hayes

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I guess it was to be expected.

Because I had an earlier life writing and producing movies and television mini-series, there is one question I get asked more often than any other.

“If your book was a movie,” friends and strangers ask, “who would you cast in the role of Pilgrim, the lead character?”

Of course, as most people are very polite, it is possible that it’s a diversionary tactic – they just want to avoid telling me what they really think of the novel. Even so, it happens to be something which has occupied my own thoughts on many occasions – usually at 3am when I have convinced myself that nobody in their right mind will buy the book and a movie seems to offer the only hope of salvaging the story.

Having got over that, I have to admit it’s a topic that has to be taken seriously. Somehow Tom Selleck from Magnum PI as Indiana Jones, Rock Hudson as Ben Huror John Travolta as Forrest Gump don’t seem to have quite the same appeal as the actors who eventually portrayed them. And yet, these three were the first choice of both the director and producer for the roles. When it comes to Hollywood, flirting with disaster doesn’t just happen up on the screen.

In my mind, the first requirement for Pilgrim is that he must be played by an outstanding actor. Fortunately, most movie stars fit into this category but – certainly – not all of them. I don’t wish to be unkind, but Steven Segal and Chuck Norris – stars of countless movies in their time – are probably unlikely to win anOscar any time soon. Hard experience has taught me that really fine actors save a writer time after time – they can make good scenes great and bad scenes passable. If for no other reason than self-preservation, it’s essential to go with a really great actor.

Should I be tempted to ignore this particular dictate and consider somebody who happens to be hot that week, I remind myself of a certain actress in the 1980s. There is a story about her which is so crazy it may well be true. A former child actress, her career wasn’t exactly flourishing until she married a very wealthy man thirty years her senior. Miraculously, she then starred in a number of movies which were almost certainly part-financed by him and even won a Golden Globe as New Star of the Year.

Worried that she wasn’t being taken seriously enough, she decided – like any number of other actors and actresses before her – to add heft to her credits by appearing on stage on Broadway. The vehicle she chose for her debut was to play the title role in The Diary of Anne Frank. Did I mention that many actors aren’t fully aware of their own limitations?

What happened at the first preview, so the story goes, is that the audience sat in slack-jawed wonder at her performance until – finally – the Gestapo arrived at the house. That was all many of the long-suffering crowd needed. “She’s in the attic!” they yelled. “She’s in the attic!” Forget 3am – the thought of that sort of response can keep you up all night.

The problem of casting is further complicated because no matter how good an actor a person might be, you often can’t divorce them from their previous roles. A few years after the late Christopher Reeve broke through to stardom playing the legendary Man of Steel, he appeared in a movie which was a complete change of pace. Called Monsignor, he played the role of an ambitious priest and was required, at one particularly dramatic moment, to question everything he believed in. “Who am I?” some screenwriter wrote. “Who am I?!” Christopher Reeve asked. “Superman!” people in darkened movie houses throughout the world answered.

On the same theme, but to return to the stage for a moment, John Voight played a paraplegic in an anti-war movie called “Coming Home”. He falls in love with a married woman – Jane Fonda – and, as these things usually turn out, they ended up having sex. Voight’s character overcame his disability by performing oral sex on the woman, allowing her to achieve her first orgasm.

Some months after the release of the film Voight – who had won an Oscar for his performance – was appearing in a play. When it came time for him to make his eagerly-anticipated entrance, he walked out into the footlights and was greeted by three young women in the front row chanting: “Eat me! Eat me!”

So, Pilgrim needs to be a movie star who is also a great actor – but not one so clearly defined by an earlier role that the audience can’t make the transition to a new character.

And what, exactly, constitutes that character? Pilgrim is highly intelligent, a man with a lot of pain in his past, a person with a good dose of courage and the physical skills to match it – the sort of guy you would want to have on your side in a back alley in Istanbul. At least that was the way I conceived him – naturally, your mileage may vary. Given those attributes – that complexity – I have always believed it is the sort of role that most movie stars would find attractive.

But Pilgrim also happens to be one of the world’s leading intelligence operatives and that brings with it another problem. At least three of the leading contenders – Daniel Craig, Tom Cruise and Matt Damon – have all played highly-accomplished agents in big-screen series. Cast Daniel Craig as Pilgrim and I fear that everyone will be expecting him to say: “Bond. James Bond.”

So, the potential pool – large at first blush – gets smaller. Trying to find the ideal actor from those remaining on the list – in my view – comes down to one thing. Vulnerability.

Pilgrim is a hero in the truest sense of the word – he is an ordinary man who goes on an extraordinary journey; he doesn’t have super-powers, he is a person not too far removed from any of us. Or at least what we would like to be.

As a consequence, he finds the mission he undertakes a hard road to travel and we believe that at any stage he could falter and fail. He is vulnerable to defeat, to mistakes, to self-doubt and to failure.

But – and I don’t think I’m giving away any secrets here – he finds the great bravery and the necessary resources deep within himself to eventually triumph. May we all be so fortunate, I suppose.

For that reason – the ability to convey vulnerability and also to be clearly someone who is rooted in the real world – my two top choices would be Daniel Day Lewis and Brad Pitt. Vastly different men, from entirely different backgrounds, but both incredibly talented and each a genuine high-voltage movie star.

I watch DDL’s performances and often I ask myself – “is there anything this man couldn’t play?” If there is, I haven’t been able to think of it. He would make a wonderful Pilgrim – cerebral, tough, complex and achingly human.

Brad Pitt? Sorry ladies, but forget the good looks – I think there is a tremendous likeability to him. Who wouldn’t want to go on a remarkable and epic journey with him? Would you believe in his anguish, be willing to fight alongside him, to live vicariously through his triumphs and defeats? I certainly would.

Hence, those two actors would be my two suggestions. But, like Pilgrim, I have to inhabit the real world and that means convincing either one of them to take the role is a Herculean task. They would only want to work with one of the world’s leading directors, a half dozen people maybe; there is the question of a huge fee and a percentage of the profits; they would want approval over the script and other casting. Then, even if you could overcome those hurdles, there is the problem of scheduling. Major movie stars frequently have their roles and careers mapped out several years ahead.

As a result, you spend months trying to pull the pieces of the puzzle together until, finally, you decide you have to abandon your dreams of the first-choice actor and move on. I have enough experience of Hollywood to know where that frequently ends up – hell I could even write the dialogue for the phone call myself. It goes like this:

“Steven? Steven Seagal? Hi Steve, this is Terry – first, I just want to say how much I admire your work.”

Ahh, Hollywood. As a famous screenwriter and novelist once remarked “the only people that don’t hate it are sober”.

Terry Hayes is the award-winning writer and producer of numerous movies.  His credits include Payback, Road Warrior, and Dead Calm (featuring Nicole Kidman).  He lives in Switzerland with his wife, Kristen, and their four children.

This astonishing debut espionage thriller depicts the collision course between two geniuses, one a tortured hero and one a determined terrorist, in a breakneck story reminiscent of John le Carré and Robert Ludlum at their finest.

PILGRIM is the code name for a world class and legendary secret agent. His adversary is a man known only to the reader as the Saracen. As a young boy, the Saracen barely sees his dissident father beheaded in a Saudi Arabian public square. But the event marks him for life and creates a burning desire to destroy the special relationship between the US and the Kingdom. Everything in the Saracen’s life from this moment forward will be in service to jihad.

At the novel’s opening, we find ourselves in a seedy hotel near Ground Zero. A woman lies face down in a pool of acid, features melted off her face, teeth missing, fingerprints gone. The room has been sprayed down with DNA-eradicating antiseptic spray. All the techniques are pulled directly from Pilgrim's book, a cult classic of forensic science written under a pen name.

In offering the NYPD some casual assistance with the case, Pilgrim gets pulled back into the intelligence underground. What follows is a thriller that jockeys between astonishingly detailed character study and breakneck globetrotting. The author shifts effortlessly from Pilgrim’s hidden life of leisure in Paris to the Saracen’s squalid warrior life in Afghanistan, from the hallways of an exclusive Swiss bank to the laboratories of a nefarious biotech facility in Syria.

The inevitable encounter between Pilgrim and the Saracen will come in Turkey, around the murder of a wealthy American, in a thrilling, twisting, beautifully orchestrated finale.

Location, Location, Location! by Sally Clements

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When reading romance, the main hook is the characters. I like feisty heroines, who know what they want and go for it, and gorgeous, funny heroes. But for me, an element I always love in books of all types is a great location. One that pulls the reader out of their everyday reality, and transports them somewhere new, somewhere different.

Think back to your favorite books, movies and TV Shows – Wuthering Heights is made so much more by being set in the North York Moors, Sex and the City is unimaginable without New York as a backdrop, Twilight and Forks go together like milk and cookies, and the movie The Proposal really springs to life once the action moves to the wilds of beautiful Alaska.

My Under the Hood series is set in the Blue Ridge Mountains, and I’ve set stories in other places I love too…the West of Ireland, Paris, London, a Tuscan Island. I love the opportunity to explore locations through story, and I know many of my readers love to read them too. Great locations fire the imagination, add interest, and infuse the story with a little extra element that makes stories memorable. 

Have you got a favorite book location? 

Sally Clements writes fun, sexy and real contemporary romance, partnering hot heroes with heroines who know what they want, and go for it!

She is a full-time author, who lives in the Irish countryside, and when she isn’t writing can usually be found in traffic, driving ‘Mum’s taxi’.

Always a voracious reader, she considers writing for a living the perfect job—the only downside is saying goodbye to her characters at book’s end!

She needs a lesson in love, and he’s the perfect teacher.

Mechanic Melody Swan is looking for a man who can share her hopes and dreams, but she swore she would never lose herself to passion. When sexy Heath Starr agrees to temporarily sub in the Under the Hood garage for his sister, Mel sees the perfect opportunity to enjoy being with a man without becoming attached.

Heath came to Meadowsweet to photograph nature, not find a hookup, especially since his last relationship ended in disaster. He vowed he’d never break another woman’s heart, and in turn, protect his own. Still, when Mel offers to serve as his outdoor guide, he can’t refuse.

Mel may say she’s only looking for right now, but her body is speaking a whole different language. And Heath’s viewfinder is drawn to her time and again. When the two find themselves isolated in a rustic cabin, they could both break their promises if they aren't careful…

5 Things You Should Know About Identity Crisis by Jean Hackensmith

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1. Identity Crisis is the second book in the B.K. Investigations series.  Book One, Checkmate, has received many rave reviews, including “Wow. Okay… so just… wow. This was one of the BEST suspense novels I’ve read in I don’t know how long…If I were a Hollywood executive, I’d option this book for a movie immediately. It’s really that good.” — Poppy, Long and Short Reviews

2. What this book is about: When rumors of how Dan Hamilton actually died reach the Cheyenne Chief of Police, Brian Koski is forced to resign his position as captain of the Sixth Precinct and go into business for himself as a private detective. His partner? A mahogany colored Belgian Malinois named Sinbad. A former NYPD police dog, Sinbad is vicious when need be and reliable to a fault unless a train goes by or there’s a thunderstorm, then chances are he will turn tail and run.

Brian’s first clients are Jeff and Melody Patten. He’s an explosives expert for a local demolitions company, she’s a stay-at-home Mom. Both are devoted parents to their young daughter, Angela. The problem comes in the form of one Collin Lanaski, an unstable ex-Air Force lieutenant and Angela’s second grade teacher, who suddenly starts insisting that Angela is his daughter; the same daughter who died in a tragic car accident four years earlier. What does Collin base this incredible revelation on? Dog tags and car seats. Brian is convinced the man has suffered a psychotic break. He’s delusional, and dangerous, and it becomes the P.I.’s job to protect Angela from a madman.

3. The canine character in Identity Crisis, Sinbad, is based on an actual dog that Chris Byrne from Stonehill Kennel (also a real guy who is an actual character in the book) sold to the NYPD.  When I asked Chris how I could make the dog in Identity Crisis unique and memorable, he told me the story that found its way into the pages of this book.

4. Besides Brian and Sinbad, one other character in Identity Crisis stands out.  Her name is Katrina Cordova.  She’s a psychic, but not your everyday psychic.  Not only are her visions accurate and detailed, but she has them only during thunderstorms.  It is her visions that lead Brian to a missing little girl.  While those visions are rather benign, another recurring vision of an explosion that will kill hundreds, perhaps thousands of people, is chilling to the bone.  These visions will become more detailed in each successive book in the B.K. Investigations Series, leaving Katrina and Brian to try and solve this ultimate attack on America by the end of the series.

5. Identity Crisis is available at Amazon.com, BarnesandNoble.com, Powells, and InkwaterBooks.com. Available in Kindle and Nook formats. Autographed copies are available through the author’s website at www.JeanHackensmith.com

I have been writing since the age of twenty.  (That’s 37 years and, yes, I’m disclosing my age.)  I am the proud mother of three, stepmother of two, and grandmother to twelve wonderful children.  I lost the love of my life, my husband Ron, in November of 2011 when he died in an accident at work.  He took my heart with him and, for a time, my desire to write.  Time, as they say, heals all wounds, and I have again discovered my passion for the written word.  In fact, I find it strangely comforting to delve into the intricate webs that are my character’s lives and immerse myself in their existence instead of dwelling on my own.

Next to writing, my second passion is live theater.  I founded a local community theater group back in 1992 and directed upwards of 40 shows, including three that I authored.  I also appeared on stage a few times, portraying Anna in The King and I and Miss Hannigan in Annie.  I am sad to say that the theater group closed its final curtain in 2008, but those 16 years will always hold some of my fondest memories.

My husband and I moved from Superior five years ago, seeking the serenity of country living.  We also wanted to get away from the natural air conditioning provided by Lake Superior.  We moved only 50 miles south, but the temperature can vary by 20-30 degrees.  I guess I’m a country girl at heart.  I simply love this area, even though I must now enjoy its beauty alone.  I love the solitude, the picturesque beauty of the sun rising over the water, the strangely calming effect of watching a deer graze outside your kitchen window.  Never again, will I live in the city.  I am an author, after all, and what better place to be inspired than in God’s own back yard.

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When rumors of how Dan Hamilton actually died reach the Cheyenne Chief of Police, Brian Koski is forced to resign his position as captain of the Sixth Precinct and go into business for himself as a private detective. His partner? A mahogany colored Belgian Malinois named Sinbad. A former NYPD police dog, Sinbad is vicious when need be and reliable to a fault–unless a train goes by or there’s a thunderstorm, then chances are he will turn tail and run.

Brian’s first clients are Jeff and Melody Patten. He’s an explosives expert for a local demolitions company, she’s a stay-at-home Mom. Both are devoted parents to their young daughter, Angela. The problem comes in the form of one Collin Lanaski, an unstable ex-Air Force lieutenant and Angela’s second grade teacher, who suddenly starts insisting that Angela is his daughter—the same daughter who died in a tragic car accident four years earlier.  What does Collin base this incredible revelation on?  Dog tags and car seats.  Brian is convinced the man has suffered a psychotic break.  He’s delusional and dangerous, and it becomes the P.I.’s job to protect Angela from a madman.

12 Books to Have With You When Planning on Being Stranded on a Deserted Island by Holly Kerr

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A few weeks ago I saw a picture of an author’s 10 favorite books – she had taken a photograph of them and then an artist had painted a watercolor of it.  It was beautiful, and I would LOVE for someone to do that for me!  (Hint hint, painting friends!)

But then I got thinking – what ARE my favorite books?

It’s impossible to pick just one.  That’s like asking a mother to pick their favourite child!  Ten seemed more doable, but still tough… 

So I asked myself this question – if I knew I was going to be stranded on a deserted island, what books would I take with me?

(I’m not sure if you noticed, but there are 12, not 10 books in my pic!)

All these books are well-read and well-loved.  I’m the type who rereads books and some of these books do look a little worse for wear!  If I do get a painting out of it, I hope the artist can make them look a little less read!

Here’s my list of 12 favorite reads and reasons why: 

In no particular order

Michael Grant – Gone

I know in the picture it’s called Hunger, but that’s because I let a friend borrow Gone and she hasn’t given it back yet.

This is my latest addition to my top list.  I found it last summer at a toystore while we were at the cottage, and it took me a day to read it, in between looking after kids and packing up for home! I seriously couldn’t put the book down, and on the 3 hour drive home, I stopped in the first Indigo I could find and bought the next 2 books in the series! 

 It’s a YA book about a town where everyone older 15 just disappears one day, and the kids that are left must fend for themselves and deal with their newly discovered powers.  There’s also a sinister evil apparition that is hell-bent on acquiring these powers.

It was the tag-line that sold me – If Stephen King had wrote Lord of the Flies.  ‘Nuff said.

A.C. Crispin – V

They made a miniseries out of this in the 1980s, about the lizard aliens who invade Earth to steal our water, hiding behind human faces.  Remember the scene of the lizard baby being born?  Or the alien commander eating a guinea pig?

This was the first sci-fi book I ever read when I was a teenager and it still has a big place in my heart.  So does Mike Donovan – the anti-hero hero of the book!

Emily Giffin – Something Borrowed

Even though I wrote a chick-lit book, (Baby! Baby? Baby?!), I was finding so much of the genre focused on characters that were really annoying and self-serving and selfish and…it’s difficult for me to read a book when I am constantly irritated by the main character.  So I stopped reading chick-lit for a while.  And then I picked up this book at an airport and it restored my faith in the chick-lit genre! 

Rachel sleeps with her best friend’s fiancé and it turns out to be a good thing. 

J.K.Rowling – Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

The only deliberation I had was whether to include this one or number 4 – Goblet of Fire.  I told myself only to pick one Harry Potter book.  If I was planning on being stranded on a deserted island, I would do my best to sneak the entire series into my bag!

Jilly Cooper – Rivals

Jilly Cooper is a British writer whose books are ‘gripping yarns’, set in glamorous settings and are chock full of adultery, infidelity and general betrayals.  My favourite of her books are the Rutshire Chronicles, featuring the devastating Rupert Campbell – Black.  Rivals is my top pick of Cooper’s books but any one of them are the ultimate beach read.

Jane Austen – Pride and Prejudice

I don’t feel I need to explain.  If you haven’t read it, it’s a must!  Plus, Mr. Bennett reminds me so much of my father-in-law!

Stephen King – The Stand

This is more thriller than horror and one of Stephen’s King’s best.  A plague has decimated the human population and small groups of survivors make their way to Colorado where there is an epic fight between good and evil. Classic.

George R.R. Martin – Game of Thrones

If you’ve seen the show you’ll understand why I picked this one.  It’s fantasy with dragons and gods and the three best characters are a little girl, a witty dwarf and a Kingslayer who is involved in an incestuous relationship.  And the main character is killed off before the end of the book.  If it’s not for you, than I won’t bother trying to persuade you to try, but it’s good!

Suzanne Collins – Hunger Games

The first one is the series is the best

Michael Critchon – Timeline

Time-travel, quantum physics and thirteen century France.  The movie was pretty sad, but the book is really cool

Margaret Atwood – The Handmaid’s Tale

I first read this in high school and it’s been a favourite ever since.  It was my first time reading about dystopian society and my first time focusing in the status of women in literature; two things that remain an interest of mine to this day

Katherine Neville – The Eight

It’s a mixture of historical fiction, medieval mystery and modern romance.  It’s hard to explain, but definitely a cool read.

So there are my 12 favorite books.  What about you?

Ask any writer and they'll tell you they have always wrote and Holly Kerr is no exception. She’s written stories about bunnies dodging cars and sisters dying, distracting the cute boy in class and dark plots to kill your best friend's husband.  Coming Home is her latest novel, a story about sisters who can’t get along and living in a small town, two things she knows more than a little about!  A self-professed geek, she loves anything to do with Star Wars, super heroes, Joss Whedon and Harry Potter. She also enjoys running, playing in the dirt and sharing a glass of wine with friends. 

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Loving your sisters is easy. Liking them is the hard part. 

Brenna Ebans always wanted more than what Hill n’Valley could give her, so it seemed a simple decision to follow her black-sheep sister Dory’s footsteps and leave Hill n’Valley in her rearview, hoping to locate their missing father. Leaving her sisters and her first love Seamus was harder than she thought, but she’s made a life for herself in Vancouver, started her career at a prestigious law firm, and has found the man of her dreams. But when she finds her husband Toby in a compromising position at work, she loses both her love and her job, and has nowhere to go but home. 

Youngest sister Cat has remained in Hill n’Valley, leaving a string of broken hearts—and ex-husbands—in her wake. She’s happy living in the family home, with the ghost of their dead mother to keep her company during the day, and her latest conquest—Brenna’s old boyfriend, Seamus—to keep her warm at night. And she’s less than thrilled to hear about Brenna’s return. 

But when tragedy strikes, it brings their father back to Hill n’Valley, and the sisters will have a lot of issues to resolve… 

Why I Write Victorian Romance featuring Author Kathleen Bittner Roth

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Why do I write Victorian romance? I doubt there was a single circumstance that caused me to fall in love with that particular era. I tend to think that many threads ran through my life that created a tapestry woven around the mid-nineteenth century.

My mother was the first person to urge me to write romance set in a bygone era. She said I started spinning historical tales when I was about five-years-old. In Idaho, where we lived for a time, the Rocky Mountains were practically in our back yard. Pioneers braved impossible odds to cross over those craggy peaks. My imagination used that backdrop to invent all kinds of sagas by which to entertain my siblings. I had no idea I had the basis for love stories way back then, but I did understand the value of love—love of family, love in the little glances my parents gave one another when they thought we weren’t looking; the first loves of my older teenaged sisters.

I love to wander through old cemeteries and create stories out of the inscriptions on the headstones. Most of the graveyards in the U.S. don’t go back any farther than the eighteen-hundreds, so again, there was another stimulus for writing in the Victorian era.

And how about my mother’s influence? She read books. Lots of books. Romance and more romance. She didn’t care what I read, just so I read. And I did, from age appropriate Black Beauty, to Gone With the Wind (I was ten). I loved my mother’s gothic romances, written by the likes of Mary Stewart and []. It wasn’t long before I discovered Kathleen Woodiwiss. Need I say more?

For four years, my husband and I lived in Opatija, Croatia, a romantic seaside town made up of mostly Baroque-style villas. It was built in the mid-1800’s as a spa destination for Emperor Franz Joseph and Empress Elizabeth (she was said to be the most beautiful woman in the world at the time. 1837-1898).Hans and I lived an idyllic life there—until he fell ill.

We rushed him to Budapest, Hungary, to a renowned cancer center. Five weeks later, he passed away. I remained in the city, thinking I would stay long enough to sort out all the documentation the various governments required of me. Grief-stricken, every day I would walk around the city for hours on end. Soon, I fell in love with this visually stunning and romantic town, and I began making friends. Three months later, I returned from one of my walks with this powerful feeling that I had to write. And write I did! Once I started, there seemed to be no stopping me. Five books later, here I am, still living in Budapest and, in a period of less than six months, four of the five books I wrote will be released (the fifth releases in 2015).

The Seduction of Sarah Marks, my debut novel, is very special to me because I dreamed it in its entirety one night! I woke up filled with the essence of every character, and feeling as though I had just watched a really good movie. Despite the serious nature of not just one, but both the heroine and hero having suffered amnesia, the humor injected by the secondary characters had me giggling half the time. I do hope you enjoy Sarah’s and Eastleigh’s story as much as I enjoyed writing it. Here’s a description of the story and a little excerpt:

Description: When prim and proper Sarah Marks is stranded with no memory other than her name, she relies on Viscount Eastleigh to rescue her, but little does she know that the man and his wild and mischievous family are about to change her world forever.

Sarah shifted in her chair. “I’m wondering if this is at all proper.

“What? Stealing into my own kitchen in the middle of the night?” Eastleigh speared a thin slice of Stilton on the end of the knife and lifted it to her lips. “Eat.”

For pity’s sake. She was certain she had never done anything so unmannerly as to take food off a carving knife.

At her hesitation, he leaned closer and tugged at her chin until her lips parted. He slid the piece of cheese into her mouth. The rich, creamy texture nearly caused her to moan.

“That’s it. Good girl.” The timbre of his voice deepened, while at the same time, it took on a smoky quality. And his eyes—no mistaking the hunger in them. He speared another slice, popped it into his own mouth, and chewed slowly.

Oh, why was he looking at her like that? She wanted to say something clever to lighten the moment, but her frazzled brain came up with nothing.

Kathleen Bittner Roth creates passionate stories featuring characters faced with difficult choices, and who are forced to draw on their strength of spirit to overcome adversity and find unending love.

Her own fairy tale wedding in a Scottish castle led her to her current residence in Budapest, Hungary, considered one of Europe’s most romantic cities. However, she still keeps one boot firmly in Texas and the other in her home state of Minnesota.

A member of Romance Writers of America, she was a 2012 Golden Heart finalist. You can find Kathleen on Facebook, Twitter, Goodreads, and her website at www.kathleenbittnerroth.com

He may be her savior... or what she needs most

England 1857

After a blow to her head, Sarah Marks awakens in a strange bed with a strange man and no memory of how she got there. Her handsome bedmate, Lord Eastleigh, tells her she’s suffering from amnesia and the best course of action is to travel home with him until she recovers her memory.

Lord Eastleigh has his own reasons for helping Sarah and keeping her close. Reasons he cannot tell her. As they struggle to restore her memory, their undeniable, inadvisable attraction grows—until Sarah finally remembers the one thing that could keep them apart forever.

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