Summary:

You, dear reader, continue at your own risk. It is not for the faint of heart—no more so than the study of dragons itself. But such study offers rewards beyond compare: to stand in a dragon’s presence, even for the briefest of moments—even at the risk of one’s life—is a delight that, once experienced, can never be forgotten. . . .

All the world, from Scirland to the farthest reaches of Eriga, know Isabella, Lady Trent, to be the world’s preeminent dragon naturalist. She is the remarkable woman who brought the study of dragons out of the misty shadows of myth and misunderstanding into the clear light of modern science. But before she became the illustrious figure we know today, there was a bookish young woman whose passion for learning, natural history, and, yes, dragons defied the stifling conventions of her day.

Here at last, in her own words, is the true story of a pioneering spirit who risked her reputation, her prospects, and her fragile flesh and bone to satisfy her scientific curiosity; of how she sought true love and happiness despite her lamentable eccentricities; and of her thrilling expedition to the perilous mountains of Vystrana, where she made the first of many historic discoveries that would change the world forever.

A Natural History of Dragons is not a floor wax. Nor is it a dessert topping . . . wait, that’s probably not what you meant.

It isn’t set in the real world, though the setting obviously draws heavily from actual cultures. It also isn’t science fiction, although my protagonist is a scientist. And finally, it isn’t boring -- I hope!

Historical fiction giveth, and it taketh away.

What I mean by that is, sometimes history handed me the most amazing details and coincidences on a platter, that were just utterly perfect for the story I was telling . . . and sometimes people stubbornly refused to be in the right place at the right time, or died too early, or were born too late, and I had to figure out some way around that. (Which I guess is a statement more about history than about anthropology -- but one of the nice things about not being in graduate school anymore is that I don’t have to worry about disciplinary boundaries!)

More anthropologically, I think my background in that field helped me wrap my brain around the atmosphere of the period. The fascinating part was walking the setting forward from the Elizabethan period to the Victorian; I absolutely adored seeing how London and its inhabitants changed through the centuries. I suspect that the experience contributed to me depicting Isabella's world in A Natural History of Dragons as a place with historical depth, that has seen some major changes between her youth and her old age.

The Onyx Court per se didn't exist before the sixteenth century, so any faerie fiction I write before then may be in general continuity with the series, but won't be directly linked. (Bar, perhaps, the full tale of Suspiria and Francis Merriman, which -- if I ever write it -- will include a  deep-past strand.) But I'd be nervous writing about something like Joan of Arc; the Onyx Court set my standards for historical rigor pretty high, and I'm afraid my knowledge of French history is barely Wikipedia-deep.

Of course there was a sword fight! Atop the Flatiron Building, in a thunderstorm. He said "There can be only one!" and I said "No, I want at least three books in the series, and preferably five."

By which I mean I wrote thirty thousand words of this book several years ago, then dusted that
off more recently and pitched it to my editor, who offered me a three-book contract.

Isabella goes to Bayembe and Mouleen, two countries that are equatorial-African in their inspiration. There are cheetah-like dragons and crocodilian dragons and an invading army, and
a place based on Iguazu Falls, with a cliff island in the middle of the waterfall.

To know more than that, you'll have to offer me something pretty darn good . . . .

The funny part is, all I see is the list of things I could be getting done, if I weren't so busy lazing
around! But yes: I study karate, and play a lot of roleplaying games, and have started practicing
piano again. I also watch an embarrassing amount of TV and movies ia Netflix's streaming
service -- usually as a bribe to myself to do things like catch up on e-mail or clean the living
room.

+++

Throughout the book there are gorgeous black and white drawings by Lady Trent depicting her travels and studies.  My favorite would have to be the image of the Wolf Drake(which you can see below).

(c) TOR & Todd Lockwood

Now for some fun Linkage! 

• Marie's website- Swan Tower and her Blog
• An Excerpt - Tor.com
• Larger sizes of the Bookcover
• Marie's Soundtrack (she talks about it at SciFi Songs)
• Interview with Lady Trent - Tor/Forge Blog
• Buy Links -Indiebound, , Barnes & Noble, BooksAMillion, Powells

Summary:

First came the storms.
Then came the Fever.
And the Wall.

After a string of devastating hurricanes and a severe outbreak of Delta Fever, the Gulf Coast has been quarantined. Years later, residents of the Outer States are under the assumption that life in the Delta is all but extinct… but in reality, a new primitive society has been born.

Fen de la Guerre is living with the O-Positive blood tribe in the Delta when they are ambushed. Left with her tribe leader’s newborn, Fen is determined to get the baby to a better life over the wall before her blood becomes tainted. Fen meets Daniel, a scientist from the Outer States who has snuck into the Delta illegally. Brought together by chance, kept together by danger, Fen and Daniel navigate the wasteland of Orleans. In the end, they are each other’s last hope for survival.

Thanks, Lexie!  It’s a pleasure to visit the equally-obsessed!

What a great question! When I first heard Fen’s voice, I think she was a little bit softer than she turned out to be. The first words I heard her say in my head were “O-Neg Davis, he beautiful,” so naturally I thought there might be an unrequited romance in there somewhere. As I listened harder and the world developed, I saw Fen differently. She might admire a handsome face, but in the end she’d write it off as trouble if the guy didn’t live up to her very exacting standards. (Something my husband would say is true about me, too!)

As far as putting her through “too much” goes, I have a bad habit of protecting my characters. Some advice I give students when I talk about writing is to think of the worst thing that can happen to your character, then make it happen. So, in early drafts, my editor said “This is a dangerous world, how come there’s no violence or weapons?” I had a reason for the lack of weapons, which is in the book to an extent, but I knew he was right and I was pulling punches.

So I went all in and put the things I’d been holding back. Which won me the comment, “That’s kind of harsh for a ten-year-old. Maybe you want to pull back?” But by that point, I was sold. So there was some haggling and, in the end, I did remove one moment early on in the book and I adjusted some character relationships not because it was too violent or unbelievable, but because in a sea of violence, Fen needed one quiet spot in her life to look back on. I’m happy with the final result, but I do think Fen could have handled the old version, too!

Absolutely. My brother likes to say, “Stand up for something, or you’ll fall for anything.” We both inherited a strong (maybe overdeveloped?) sense of right and wrong from our mother. And we’re stubborn people when we want to be. Sometimes that’s the only way to get to where you want to be in life.

Sadly, no. My mom passed away in September 2007. Fen was in my head back then, but she didn’t make it to the page until the following year. My mom was a big influence on her, though. One day, my mom and I were sitting around talking and she says, “that reminds of the time So-and-so pulled a knife on Miss Such-and-such and I took it from her!” I was like, “Whaaat?” Apparently, when my mom was in third grade, another student got mad at the teacher and pulled a knife. When the girl passed her desk to attack the teacher, my mom jumped up and disarmed her. Crazy pants. Just like that. My mom, the nine-year-old hero! 

I asked her what the heck she was thinking. She shrugged and said, “she had a knife,” as if that’s all the answer she needed. This was 1940-something so no cops were called and the school wasn’t put on lock down. The teacher was grateful and that was that. The angry girl, however, threatened to beat my mom up after school. So she did the only thing a nine-year-old hero can do in that situation. She left school right after the bell and ran all the way home! I actually wrote a short story based on that conversation called “Momfight.” It’s a huge a tangent from this interview, so I’ll shut up about it, but thanks for conjuring the memory. Today is my mom’s birthday. I love you, Mom!

My next book is actually both! I’m working on an historical fantasy based on E.T.A. Hoffman’s “The Nutcracker and the Mouse King,” which most people know from Tchaikovsky’s ballet, “The Nutcracker.” After that, there might be a mystery or two in the future. I like working in different genres, figuring out how they work, so the future is wide open.

Good question. Well, you want to be like all the other tourists and go to Café du Monde in the French Quarter. While you’re there, treat yourself to a dressed oyster po’ boy at Felix’s. Then you can ditch the crowds and go for some down home food at Two Sisters Kitchen (not to be confused with the tonier Court of Two Sisters in the Quarter). Don’t forget to hit Plum Street afterward for the biggest snoballs you’ve ever had! Oh, and if you’re there for Mardi Gras parades and there are beads or doubloons on the ground, step on them first, and then pick them up. Otherwise, you could lose a finger to a real parade veteran who knows to stomp before you stoop!

US Cover

Summary: Rising from their sea-torn ships like vengeful, pale phantoms, the Norlanders laid waste to the Shadar under cover of darkness. They forced the once-peaceful fisher folk into slavery and forged an alliance with their former trading partners, the desert-dwelling Nomas tribe, cutting off any hope of salvation.

Now, two decades after the invasion, a rebellion gathers strength in the dark corridors of the city. A small faction of Shadari have hired the Mongrel, an infamous mercenary, to aid their fledgling uprising—but with her own shadowy ties to the region, she is a frighteningly volatile ally. Has she really come to lead a revolution, or for a more sinister purpose all her own?

Set in a fictional quasi-Medieval Mediterranean region with a strong cast of male and female characters, the series “presents a striking world with civilizations similar to those of the Vikings and the nomadic cultures of the Middle East, and with the Mediterranean sensibilities of the ancient Greeks. Her characters are passionate and memorable, lending a personal touch to a complex tale of clashing cultures and philosophies.

For the most part the characters in BLOOD’S PRIDE are just standing too close to the painting: they can’t see the whole picture, so they’re working from assumptions that are essentially faulty. That’s true on several different levels, from the political and military machinations of kings and emperors, all the way down to the characters’ understanding of themselves and where they fit into the world. I think that’s the fascinating flaw in our human intelligence… we tend to extrapolate and draw conclusions based on what we’ve learned, even when that knowledge is woefully insufficient. It’s our charming and doomed way of dealing with the uncertainties of life.

It can be difficult, that’s true! With a book like BLOOD’S PRIDE, there’s the extra challenge of factoring in what the reader knows and when. I keep detailed timelines and arcs for each character – not just the point-of-view ones – and factor it all in. I see the story less as one big plot arc than as the journeys of the individual characters, so from that standpoint, when they learn certain things is just as important to their decision-making as the physical action. For instance, it’s only when Daryan finally learns of Eofar’s clandestine relationship with Harotha that he’s inspired to challenge the self-imposed barrier keeping him away from Isa.

UK Cover

I think both covers are great (though I’ve also met a lot of people who prefer one over the other). Both covers make different but equally valid statements about the book. The UK cover has the stark, glaring loneliness that is a great metaphor for the world of BLOOD’S PRIDE. On the US cover, the scale of the figures is a marvelous way of representing that this is an intensely character-driven story, and the way the Mongrel is coming right at the reader emphasizes the personal confrontations (both internal and external) that drive the action of the book.

As for expectations I’m sure those vary from person to person, and my hope is that readers will connect with the world of BLOOD’S PRIDE no matter what version of the book they pick up.

Historical fiction is appealing, since I studied history in college and still have a real love for research. Perhaps one day I’ll find a story somewhere in the past that needs to be told. I’m not entirely sure I could keep the fantasy out of it, though. Happily, there’s always historical fantasy!

Knitting and watching old (pre-1950) movies - usually at the same time. I love complicated lace and cable patterns. As for films, I particularly love the comedies of Preston Sturges and Ernst Lubitsch, but I’ll watch pretty much anything in black & white. I’m very proud that my nine-year-old daughter not only loves Cary Grant, Rosalind Russell, Katherine Hepburn and Humphrey Bogart, but could pick Ward Bond and Felix Bressart out of a line-up.

Summary: Nevada, 1869: Beyond the pitiless 40-Mile Desert lies Golgotha, a cattle town that hides more than its share of unnatural secrets. The sheriff bears the mark of the noose around his neck; some say he is a dead man whose time has not yet come. His half-human deputy is kin to coyotes. The mayor guards a hoard of mythical treasures. A banker’s wife belongs to a secret order of assassins. And a shady saloon owner, whose fingers are in everyone’s business, may know more about the town’s true origins than he’s letting on.

A haven for the blessed and the damned, Golgotha has known many strange events, but nothing like the primordial darkness stirring in the abandoned silver mine overlooking the town. Bleeding midnight, an ancient evil is spilling into the world, and unless the sheriff and his posse can saddle up in time, Golgotha will have seen its last dawn…and so will all of Creation.

It is amazing, right! I love it and I know it has got me a lot of sales. The artist is Raymond Swanland and he is a great guy and an incredible artist.

I was shown the cover art after they had commissioned Raymond for it and I thought it was perfect! I thanked Raymond for wrapping my words in such beautiful, powerful art. He said some very nice things about the book and said he read the manuscript and that it inspired him in his work. I’m very lucky to have my first book have such a great cover! I would love to work with him again, if at all possible.

Oh, and “eye-catching”…Ooofff. You really “blindsided” me with that.

Yeah, a few. I’ve been said to be “deep and philosophical” and also “shallow and obscure”. I’ll take the lot (hahahahaha). If you please everyone then you produced gray goo and you deserve all the accolades such crap deserve.

I write what I think is fun, cool and interests me. My philosophy is all over the map and I try very hard to write with an open mind and from as many viewpoints as I can stretch my brain to hold.  I’m really happy the majority of folks who have read the book seem to “get” that I was having fun and trying to do something old in a new way. I am very grateful for the kindness and thoughtfulness of the folks who read and enjoyed the book. And I’m honored to have my book produce thought and discussion. Love me or hate me, just please don’t bore me (hahahahaha).

The funniest thing is that the folks I thought I’d get the most shit from about stuff in the book are the ones I haven’t heard a peep out of, and the folks who I thought would appreciate what I was trying to pull off are the most critical. I enjoy having my ideas and beliefs challenged in a thoughtful and respectful manner. In the end, I have to put all of that stuff aside and write what I want, the way I want and hope the reader will get something of value, to them, out of it.

“Orpahans” was an experiment for me. I was trying out different kinds of fiction and I saw the ad for the contest on the trek.com website and decided to try a genre fiction piece set in an established universe. I am a HUGE Trek fan, by the way. I grew up with the original series in reruns and I love the philosophy Gene Roddenberry established in Star Trek and I love the show in all its incarnations (some incarnations more than others…)

And, to be honest I wrote “Orphans” pretty wild and free. I mashed up a bunch of stuff from many different incarnations of the series and just tried to make a thoughtful, enjoyable story (“fun” is a huge part of my writing philosophy) with the wonderful pile of Legos the Trek Universe offers a writer.  So, No I guess I should have felt some constriction but I didn’t. I won the Grand Prize that year and best of all; Harlan Ellison didn’t sue me (hahahahaha)!

Now, the next year, I did another Trek mash-up story and it made the cut from the editor, Dean Smith, but fell in to a hole once it went into corporate, and was not included in the final volume of the series. So maybe I did step on some continuity toes with that one, I honestly don’t know, but I got a damn good unpublished Trek story out of it.

Yeah, the working title of Six-Gun was just “Golgotha”. There was concern that that title wouldn’t evoke a fantasy western vibe, so my Editor, Greg Cox (an amazing writer and editor and a great guy) went through a list of possible titles (I’ve got that list somewhere still...) and decided on The Six-Gun Tarot. In retrospect, I think it was a good choice to change it. I actually asked my friends on Facebook to pitch me title ideas in the middle of the process. I got some real funny ones- Lots of H.P. Lovecraft riffs-“The Horror that came to
Golgotha”, “The Ghoul, The Bad and the Tentacle”…You get the idea ( hahahaha).

Me too! I love the noir esthetic and I love detective fiction. I think if you enjoyed Six-Gun, You will enjoy Greenway. It’s an occult detective story- it has lots of weirdness, kink, conspiracy, magic and violence. Think “Harry Potter, the Trainspotting Years” (hahaha).I’m finishing it up currently. I will be happy to talk more about it in future, if you’d like. 

Nope. If I think of one, I will try to do something in it, just to push me. I love storytelling
and I love trying new stuff and I hate having limits.

Thank you so much for having me. I really enjoyed it. I hope we can talk again soon. You can reach me at my website or by email () twitter () and on Facebook (Author RS Belcher and The Six-Gun Tarot). Thanks again!

Summary: Centuries after the ecological collapse of Earth, humanity has spread among the stars. Under the governance of the League, our endless need for resources has driven us to colonize hundreds of planets, all of them devoid of other sentient life. Humanity is apparently alone in the universe.

Then comes the sudden, brutal decimation of Kassa, a small farming planet, by a mysterious attacker. The few survivors send out a desperate plea for aid, which is answered by two unlikely rescuers. Prudence Falling is the young captain of a tramp freighter. She and her ragtag crew have been on the run and living job to job for years, eking out a living by making cargo runs that aren’t always entirely legal. Lt. Kyle Daspar is a police officer from the wealthy planet of Altair Prime, working undercover as a double agent against the League. He’s been undercover so long he can't be trusted by anyone—even himself.

While flying rescue missions to extract survivors from the surface of devastated Kassa, they discover what could be the most important artifact in the history of man: an alien spaceship, crashed and abandoned during the attack.

But something tells them there is more to the story. Together, they discover the cruel truth about the destruction of Kassa, and that an imminent alien invasion is the least of humanity’s concerns.

We’re a novel family. Well, the latest addition isn’t, but we have hopes. :D

Aliens attack! Followed by much heroic brooding.

I had a dream about a wizard on a lonely island perpetually covered in storms. I didn’t want to lose the way that image made me feel, so I took a community college short-story writing class. I’m pretty happy with the story that came out of it, though I never sold it.

Okimune is one spelling variant of ecumene, a word so obscure it’s hard to find in any dictionary.  It’s derived from Greek and mostly used in apologetics, but I got it from Jack Vance (although he spelled it ”oikumene” ). It’s a great concept; it distinguishes the civilized from the uncivilized; so pirate bases and lost worlds aren’t part of the oikumene even though they’re human.

The currently popular cyber-punk term “the Grid” has a similar meaning. To be off the grid is to be outside of civilization. In Vance’s books, the outside is called the “Beyond.” In my wife’s book (Song of Scarabaeus), she called it the “Crib,” as distinguished from the “Fringe.”

Prudence uses this word not so much to imply that the criminal elements should be left out of the loop, but rather to denote that this is a problem so large it is species-wide; everything that thinks of itself as human must be concerned with the first alien contact. The response to the aliens must not be a local or political act, but a collective act of all of civilization. Like global warming is for us, actually.

The transhumanist idea – that technology can remake our essential human nature – is actually handled quite skeptically in the book.

In Physics 101 the first thing the professor does is draw a lever and a weight. Then he draws a box around it and says, “We’re only going to worry about what’s inside the box.” This is a brilliant technique for reducing problems to something small enough to analyze, but the real world is still out there beyond the edges of your box. I have spent my professional career drawing bigger and bigger boxes, with more and more complex analyses, but invariably you run into the edge of the box and everything breaks. I doubt we can ever draw as big a box as the transhumanist idea requires.

I do have a sequel loosely sketched out, but right now I’m busy with a contemporary SF about dogs and a fantasy trilogy. Although I imagine I could be tempted to reorganize my priorities (hint hint, Booker Prize committee!).

Actually, that’s just how I normally think. The hard part was not making the whole book like that.

Thank you! - MCP

Poisoned Rationality Special  Edition

Life was different in the Before: before vampires began devouring humans in a swarm across America; before the surviving young people were rounded up and quarantined. These days, we know what those quarantines are—holding pens where human blood is turned into more food for the undead monsters, known as Ticks. Surrounded by electrical fences, most kids try to survive the Farms by turning on each other…

And when trust is a thing of the past, escape is nearly impossible.

Lily and her twin sister Mel have a plan. Though Mel can barely communicate, her autism helps her notice things no one else notices—like the portion of electrical fence that gets turned off every night. Getting across won’t be easy, but as Lily gathers what they need to escape, a familiar face appears out of nowhere, offering to help…

Carter was a schoolmate of Lily’s in the Before. Managing to evade capture until now, he has valuable knowledge of the outside world. But like everyone on the Farm, Carter has his own agenda, and he knows that behind the Ticks is an even more dangerous threat to the human race...

I don’t know if it has been addressed before and I don’t think there really are abductura’s but I think we all need to be aware of the power that other people have in our lives—and the power we have in other’s lives.

I’ve never been very good at accepting my fate.  I like to think I would be like Lily, determined to save those people who needed saving. 

Jacqueline’s friendships with Benji, Maggie and Mindi are similar to many that happen during college – you may never see that person outside class, study group or the dorm hallway, and you may go your separate ways forever when it’s over – but during that semester, you’re best friends for three hours a week. These relationships are situational, but still important. Work friendships are similar. Someone we might never interact with socially outside of that structured environment can become essential to our ultimate development, even if the relationship only lasts for a short period of time.

And then were are the often unexpected friendships that we grab hold of and never let go. Where Jacqueline and her high school friends drifted apart, her relationship with Erin is more likely to last. Erin is very like my BFF – she’s drop-dead gorgeous, hilarious, very self-confident, and she has at times forced me to be confident by pulling me along by the hand or standing behind me and shoving. She’s also been there to listen, comfort me through loss, and always be on my side, whether I was right or wrong. 

Poisoned Rationality Special  Edition

It all started out with the idea of a very smart heroine who unwittingly taps into a parallel dimension via cutting edge technology. We tossed in some magic, some bad guys, a sexy, strong hero who is literally adrift, his body safe at home while his astral traveling spirit is enslaved by our heroine’s (and the world’s) worst enemy. Then we added a sidekick who sometimes steals the show.

When we start a new story we create a story board and break everything down into chapters and turning points. We use different color sticky notes for each character and another one for world building. We don’t always follow it exactly but it is a guideline as we are writing. As for the actual process when we’re deep into a story we talk on the phone almost every day. I will write for a couple days a week, and then hand the work over to her. She’ll edit what I wrote (she’s the grammar queen) and then she’ll add new pages. After she passes it back to me, I’ll reread, and we’ll discuss direction, trade ideas back and forth, etc before I add my new pages. It’s a pretty good partnership, especially considering my weaknesses are her strengths and vice versa. Although I must say, we’re both learning from each other and overcoming our weaknesses.

We just finished putting the touches on a shiny new proposal and our agent is sending it out for us now. The waiting to hear is always so hard!

Cathryn actually came up with the idea, then asked Paula if she wanted to co write it. Once Paula got her hands on it, the world grew and became something spectacular. I’m a concept girl and she’s the ‘big picture’ thinker.

Neither of us are gamers! But our sons are. You can’t imagine how many hours we had to spend watching them play. They were thrilled to get to be the authorities in our relationships for a change.

As for additional research, Paula was working for an aerospace company at the time and a friend of hers was a computer systems analyst and developer. Paula would ask her all kinds of questions as to what would work, or at least sound plausible to the reader. Then we’d add magic.

I’d like to say we’d share it, but that’s just not going to happen. When chocolate and Paula come together, I duck! LOL

Many thanks to Leah (at Tor Books), Catherine and Paula for joining us today!  Wanna know more?  Check out Taylor Keating's Website, their Twitter () or get a taste of their writing in the excerpt below (click the upper right corner to maximize)!

Lexie,
Thank you for the enthusiastic welcome to your popular blog, and for your kind and continued support of my books.

The best part of The Reluctant Matchmaker is that it is a heart-warming story with a protagonist that readers can sympathize with and root for until the very end. And I hope my readers get a better understanding of Indian-American immigrant culture by experiencing it through Meena, my petite heroine who falls in love with her super-tall boss.

One of the main reasons I tackle social issues that impact contemporary Indian women is to bring awareness to them by weaving them into fun mainstream stories that include strong romantic elements.  To that end, I try to make my stories entertaining as well as educational.

The hardest part about reaching a wide American audience has been to convince loyal romance readers to try a different kind of ethnic romance. While literary Asian novels and African-American and Latino romances have successfully captured the attention of readers, Indian romances still have a long way to go before they are accepted as meaningful mainstream fiction.

Western readers who send me feedback on my books typically seem to be pleasantly surprised that romance can indeed be found in a conservative, arranged-marriage culture like India. They also appear to be doubtful about how some horrific practices like dowry and female fetus abortion that plague contemporary Indian women, could possibly exist side by side with loving, caring relationships.

Consequently I try to portray my protagonists battling such antiquated customs and finding love and romance.

One of my fellow Indian-American mainstream authors that I recommend to my readers is Anjali Banerjee. She writes interesting women's fiction with Indian-American characters and hints of romance. Most other South-Asian authors write literary fiction and may not always appeal to romance readers.

I describe my books as "Bollywood in a Book" because they combine the drama, emotion, tastes, and textures of India with a refreshing dose of reality to make them more interesting and vibrant. However, my books are not pure Bollywood, because there is none of the unrealistic singing and dancing typical of Indian movies. My novels are primarily tales of intelligent and passionate women who are willing to fight for freedom from their old-fashioned and often repressive Indian culture.

And yes, "Bollywood in a Book" does indicate to readers that my novels are indeed lively entertainment.

I don't have any new books in the pipeline at this time since I just retired from my day job and moved to Arizona to spend some quality time with my two small grandchildren. I am enjoying a long hiatus from writing at the moment. If and when I resume writing, I may look to India once again for more women's issues. Homelessness is a topic that has caught my interest as a potential theme for a book.

For me, the most fulfilling part of writing has been the ability to reach so many thousands of
readers through my books. The feedback that pours into my mailbox each week is beyond my wildest expectations. More than the words of praise, it is the fact that I have brought awareness to contemporary Indian women's issues to such a wide readership that pleases me the most. Naturally, I love seeing my books in bookstores, signing books for readers, and speaking to book clubs and other readers groups. Nevertheless, the best part is being able to interact with readers not only in the U.S. and Canada, but across the world.

The Concilium inhabits our world, just not the part of the world we see. So in a lot of ways their world and ours are very similar, except for the Imbibo, of course.

Generally, you’d be safe if you ran over the animal.  It’s the things in the forest that may be watching you that you have to worry about.  The Concilium tries to keep them under control, but one or two slip by and...has a snack or two. :)  That’s what we have to be careful of.  We don’t want to become their midnight snack.

First I have to say that I am very blessed to be able to work with the publishing houses that I do.  Both MuseItUp and Spencer Hill Press are wonderful to deal with.  The people are fantastic.  I can’t say enough good things about them.

As far as the books are concerned, in many ways it hasn’t been all that different between the two houses. Editing and cover art selection were handled the same.  The lead time for a paperback is a little longer than for a digital copy. I imagine the differences will become more apparent when I actually hold a paper book in my hand.

No, it isn’t autobiographical. :)   I wish I had a really great answer to this question.  Stephenie Meyer of Twilight fame had her idea come to her in a dream...oh, if only it were that easy for the rest of us.  I honestly can’t remember exactly how Concilium first came to me.  I do remember that I was cleaning out some files on my computer when I found some notes and partial chapters I’d written months, if not years, before.  I thought about deleting them, but filed them away in my “junk” file instead.  Well, I couldn’t stop thinking about the story.  My mind kept rolling the idea over and over and I started playing the “what if” game.  What if this happened...then this...then this could happen...and what if he did this....and she did that...and before I knew it I had an idea so I started writing.

My main influence was my grandmother.  She instilled my love for reading in me.  I don’t think I’d be the reader I am today if she hadn’t taken me to the library every weekend when I’d spend the night with her.  And I know I wouldn’t be an author.

Oh, there are so many authors to chose from.  I just read a book by Meradeth Houston called “Colors Like Memories” that I enjoyed very much.  Emily White and Ednah Walters are both published through Spencer Hill and they are extremely talented.  Dan Cohen is also pubbed through Spencer Hill.  His book “Masters of the Veil” is a great book for boys.  I also enjoy reading Lisa Jackson, Wendy Corsi-Staub, Sandra Brown, and, of course, I’d recommend my book.  lol!

Chances are you’ll be fine when it comes to the Imbibo.  It’s a rarity that humans stumble across them.  As for Miller...sigh...I want one, too.  He’s almost the perfect man. Tall, dark and handsome with piercing green eyes and...well, he’s hot, I’ll just say that.  But he’s also a pain in the rear and has an attitude that would drive most people insane.

We learn a little about his past and what has happened that causes his unbearable demeanor in Concilium, but we really learn about him and his story in the sequel, Concilium: The Departure, which releases in November from MuseItUp.

LOL! I was gearing myself up for something ground-breaking when I read the first part of the sentence.  Now I can’t stop laughing because all I can think of is the movie American Pie and there is no way I can take that seriously!  So considering what happened to the pie in the movie, my answer is going to be cake.  Definitely, cake.

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Thank you Michelle!!  Seriously guys, the Cruor Imbibo are nasty creatures--I don't envy anything that happens to Les during Concilium...even if Miller is smoking hot.

Wanna know more?  Check out Michelle's website, or check out the webpage specifically for the Concilium (I promise you won't be hunted down for learning their secrets!).