Authorsday - Jennie Helderman

Today I welcome Jennie Helderman to by my guest. I put her under the microscope to see what secrets of hers she will give up.

Jennie Helderman was born into a story-telling family in north Alabama too long ago and she’ll never have time to write all the stories swimming in her head, like when her cousin died and his wife had the Mrs. and the burial policy but the one-legged woman had the body. Or about driving her mother and a coconut cake to the family reunion in a cow pasture in south Alabama.

1. How long have you been writing?

All my life and I'm not saying how long that is. I wrote and produced a play when I was ten. My playmates and I threaded a wire through an old Army blanket and strung it over the garage for a curtain and the neighbors sat on lawn chairs in the driveway. One was the society editor for the local paper, so the play got a review---a good one, if I remember.

2. What drew you to write The Sycamore Tree?

I was working with Rick Bragg on a magazine article---1500 words and a two-week deadline---when I stumbled onto the story. The 1500 words grew to 90,000 and two weeks expanded to four years.

3. Describe your book.

The book tells the story of Ginger, who escaped the isolation and poverty of a cabin hidden in the woods, and Mike, who abused her and would do it all over again. It's something like living in The Glass Castle while Sleeping With the Enemy.

Abuse takes many forms; it's not all physical. Even poverty can be abuse when it allows one person to control another. Ginger had no money, not even to buy sanitary pads. While she was ripping up rags to use, Mike bought a Jet Ski. With his disability check. He controlled the money, the mail, Ginger's hair. And then he claimed to control Ginger's access to God.

There's loss, betrayal, redemption, even humor. But the book is really about the legacy of abuse and bringing it to an end. It can end. People can change. The book offers hope and a happy ending. Ginger is amazing. She came out of the woods and into the court system, now a polished professional woman.

4. What do I want the reader to come away with after reading the book?
A deep feeling for the people in the book. Over and above anything about abuse, loss and control, I'd like the reader to be touched by these people, and that includes Mike. Ginger believes there's something inside each of us—a piece of humanity, a soul, something---that gives us hope and allows us to change. I'd like the reader to glimpse that piece of humanity in Ginger and Mike and perhaps in all of us.
5. The book raises lots of issues about men, women, beliefs, etc. Talk about one of them.
I'll jump on the most controversial, and the most timely, the role religion plays. Wrap religion around an issue and it takes on a double whammy. Religion has power and power can control. Doesn't have to but it can. And abuse is about control.
Do faiths that teach women to be submissive foster abuse? You bet, in my opinion. Just look at the Mideast for the most extreme examples. But what about in the U.S.? Yes again, but less now than in the past. Women used to promise to love and obey in the wedding ceremony. Some churches counsel women to stay in an abusive marriage and pray harder. I say double-time it to a safe place and then say a prayer of thanks for getting out.
6. Were you ever afraid when you were with Mike?
I'd hate to see what would happen if Mike couldn't have his cigarettes and coffee, but no, I was never afraid of him. I was careful to meet with him in public places at first, like the Waffle House. But its rattles and clangs drove us to quieter and more private places. He was never threatening with me. I never felt uncomfortable. Maybe I should have. But I never met with him that someone didn't know where I was and when to start looking for me.
7. Your book doesn't have a publisher yet. What are its prospects?
Everybody out there, please cross your fingers. Right now two agents are looking it over. One had already read the first chapters and he asked for it all. But doors that crack open can slam shut. I'm no stranger to rejections and if/when they come, I'll ship it out again. It will see print. I can't say when, but it will.
8. What comes next?
A tummy tuck, if I push John Grisham aside taking my money to the bank. As for my next book, I left a historical novel on the back burner to write The Sycamore Tree, so back to that. But the book I'm waiting to write is about family and funerals. Like driving my mother and a coconut cake to a family reunion in a cow pasture in south Alabama. Or, the funeral of my cousin who was having an affair with a one-legged woman. When he died, his wife had the Mrs. title and the burial insurance but the one-legged woman had the body. I can't tell the end yet. Still a few funerals away from airing the family dirty laundry.
9. What would you like to learn that you haven't?
To speak Spanish.
10. What place that you haven't visited would you like to go?
Somewhere tourists don't go. I like to get off the beaten path. I'm fortunate that I've been lots of places. And I've always liked to walk when I traveled. I learned why a few years ago. I walked 125 miles across northern Spain on the camino de Santiago de Compestella. Planting my feet on the soil connects me in a very solid and spiritual way with the earth and the people. Seeing a place at eye level is different from looking out a car or tour bus window. On the camino, I felt the connection reach back to all the pilgrims who walked that path over the past 1300 years, a very real sensation of history, purpose and continuity. It was a good feeling and I treasure it.
Unlike Shirley MacLaine, who wrote a book about walking the same paths, I didn't meet or have sex with Charlemagne. A man that old? Come on.

Happy Fourth of July

I was lucky enough today to start the day where it all started.
Philadelphia. That's where the Declaration of Independence was signed.
And Philly knows how to put on a party.
Wish I could have stayed.
Anyway.
Remember those who have died so that we can stay free.
And speaking of those who have served.
Welcome home Vince!

Authorsday - J.W. Coffey

Welcome author J.W. Coffey to my blog today. A small round of applause please!

Love that cover, J.W.

Here's what I know about J.W
J. W. Coffey is a copyeditor and Book Editor for the site www.examiner.com/lexington. She is also the author of four books. Her latest is A Wager of Blood, published by LBF Books/Lachesis Publishing and available through any online or local bookstore.

And a lovely picture of you. So let's get started on this interview.

When did you know you wanted to be a writer?
When I was in junior high school. I loved to make up stories in my head and watch them play out. I loved to tell stories even then. And Lord knows I was constantly reading. But the actual writing part came in one of my English classes when we were asked to write a fairy tale. A small contest for the class; and I won. That’s when I started writing them all down. That’s when I knew.

How did you pick the genre you write in?
That’s part of my problem. I don’t pick the genre, the story does. I’ve yet to write in the same genre twice. Not because I can’t pick one but because the stories have been so diverse. The first book I wrote was a cross genre of historical fiction, fantasy, and romance. The second was just straight historical fiction. The third was horror. The fourth was a short story collection that was all of the above. And the most current work that I’m in the rewrite stage of is a combination of romance/erotica. The story chooses for me. And I follow along.

Do you plot or do you write by the seat of your pants?
A little of both, actually. Writing, to me, is like a road trip. I like to know where I’m going and have a few salient points plotted out—not unlike choosing the routes you’ll take to your destination. But that doesn’t mean I can’t take a side trip or change my mind. I plot but that doesn’t mean I can’t find something that will fit or change the plot a bit.

What drew you to the subject of A Wager of Blood?
Ah yes, my little ghost story that grew. There were a couple of influences for this one. Part of the story came from an episode of Unsolved Mysteries about two women on an elevator in a building on a Civil War battlefield. The door opened onto a haunting of a hospital during the time of the war and was so real that both women were stunned into paralysis, caught in the act of stepping off the elevator. I’ve always been fascinated with that segment, always wondering . . . what would have happened if they’d actually stepped off that elevator in the middle of that? Would they have gone back in time? Would that haunting have just evaporated? What would have happened?

Describe your book.
Wager is my way of answering that question. A supposedly friendly game of dice sets off a murder in a Colonial Inn. By the time all is said and done, four people have burned to death in the inn and a man is left insane. Fast forward to the present day and four friends with a very real tie to that haunted inn . . . the scene of more murders that echo the past. To solve the murders of the past and the present, these friends will have to deal with some very literal and real personal demons. Which includes a haunted room . . . and stepping through the door.

What was the best writing advice someone gave you?
Best advice was given by Stephen King in his book, On Writing. Words to live by. Paraphrased, apply seat of pants to seat of chair and fingers to keyboard. If you want to be a writer, then sit down and write. Talking about it won’t get it done. Next best piece of advice was given to me at a book signing by Diana Gabaldon. She said—again, paraphrasing—don’t wait for the muse to visit or you’ll be waiting into your next lifetime. Write what you see in your head, don’t worry about being linear or grammatically correct—that’s what the rewrites are for. Just tell the story.

What’s your writing schedule?
Unfortunately, I have a day job—for now, she said with extreme confidence—which rather hinders my dream of writing full time. But I try to write at least an hour or so a day. And I do a great deal of writing on the weekend. You’d be surprised how much you can get done that way. I wrote Wager by hand at work during my breaks and lunch. I managed to get 5 – 6 typewritten pages done a day. And that was an hour and a half a day.

Where do you like to write? How do you set the scene?
I prefer to write at home where I can sit in my jammies and drink coffee or burn incense if I so choose. But that doesn’t always happen. I carry a notebook around with me to write in, for plot things, dialogue things, or story. And as far as setting the scene, it really depends. With my first book, The Savior, I played John Denver’s Farewell, Andromeda CD on a loop. With The Brothers Campbell, I had to have complete silence. But I do recommend turning the TV off. Major distraction there.

What authors do you admire?
Quite a few. Stephen King, Diana Gabaldon, J. K. Rowling, John Jakes, Lorrieann
Russell—all write great stories with real characters that live and breathe in the
stories. They write books that keep me spellbound and unable to put the books
down.

What other time period besides your own would you like to experience?
I’ve never really felt a part of the time I live in. If I could go back, it would be to the Italian Renaissance or Tudor England, Scotland, and Ireland. I’ve always feel akin to that period and those places.

It all began with an innocent game of dice. Before the night was over, four people were dead and a man was driven insane by his greed. The Thornton Inn is haunted by the sins of the past. One by one, four friends will face their demons . . . from the past to the present. Because when you dice with the devil, every toss is A Wager of Blood.

Thanks for stopping by today J.W.

Authorsday - Pearl Wolf

The lovely and gracious Pearl Wolf has stopped by today to answer a few questions.

That cover looks pretty steamy to me! Maybe this interview will be also.

Welcome Pearl!

Q. --How long have you been writing?
A. —I wrote fantasy stories when I was a child, as a way to escape the torture of two much older brothers and a much older sister, all of whom thought they were in charge of rearing me. I got even with them on paper, by making them all villains.

2. Q. —What was the name of the first novel you wrote? Did you try to publish it?
A. —SONG OF MIRIAM. I tried and tried and tried, for this was the book of my heart. I had so many ‘almost’ sales, I could have papered my living room walls with the rejection letters. I finally found a small press (Hilliard and Harris) willing to take it on, so in 2003 my first adult ‘baby’ saw the light of day at last.

3. Q. —What do you know now that you are published that you didn’t know pre-published that you wish you knew.
A. —I wish I knew about the business side of writing when I began to sell. My first publication was a children’s book, GORILLA BABY: The story of Patty Cake c1974, published by Scholastic, Inc. It was a chest-thumping (excuse the pun) success that sold 250,000 copies. Their publicist called me to tell me I had been invited to appear on a popular TV show called, “To Tell The Truth.” I panicked, took fright and turned the offer down, too stupid to know that my appearance might have sold many more copies! Don’t bother to interrupt me when Oprah calls and asks me to stand on my head and whistle Dixie!

4. Q. --Tell me one thing about yourself that very few people know.
A. —I’m a secret slob who can’t bear to face the mess. After a day’s work, I clean up by opening my desk drawer and shoveling everything on top into it, so my desk looks clean in the morning. The rest of my apartment receives the same treatment. Don’t bother to look into my closets!

5. Q. —What do you consider your strengths in terms of writing?
A. —Snappy dialogue, for one, because it grabs the reader’s attention. For another, what writers calling ‘plotting’ but what I call my lesson plan, since I’m a former teacher. After I make my lesson plan and first my agent, then my editor accepts it, I am free to ignore it when necessary and write from my characters’ varied points of view.

6. Q. —What’s your favorite quote?
A. -- Edna Ferber wrote: “Writing is not an amusing occupation. It is a combination of ditch digging, mountain climbing, treadmill and childbirth. It may be absorbing, racking, relieving, but amusing? Never.” (From “A Peculiar Treasure”)

7. Q. —What authors do you admire?
A. —William Shakespeare, Charles Dickens, Jane Austen, Georgette Heyer and Eloisa James.

8. Q. —What three things would you want with you on a desert island?
A. —A virile sex slave with a magnificent body and few words, a laptop with unlimited power and eternal access to the Internet, all trouble-free.

9. Q. —What do you do when you’re not writing?
A. —I play duplicate bridge in the evening whenever I can, because it relaxes me and, I’m proud to say, I am an American Contract Bridge League Life Master.

10. Q. —What would you like to learn to do that you haven’t?
A. —Two things. First, I would love to manage my workday more efficiently. Second, I’d like to learn to accept the things I cannot change with good grace and continue to take pleasure every day in the sheer joy of living. For a 79 year-old who thinks she’s still 39, that’s my story and I’m sticking to it!

Pearl, as always, a pleasure. Good luck with Too Hot For a Spy!

Guest Blogger - Author Sandy Lender

Today I welcome author Sandy Lender to my blog. Please give her a warm blog welcome.

Fantasy enthusiasts will recognize Sandy Lender as the author of the breakout novel CHOICES MEANT FOR GODS and a leader of workshops on world-building and characterization. Her four-year degree in English and seventeen-year career in magazine publishing augment her book publishing experience for a variety of presentations.

Q1: How long have you been writing?
Sandy Lender: I’ve been at this since I was little. I think it’s funny that my first stories were in speculative fiction, but, of course, I had no clue that was what you’d call it way back then. I wrote this story for my great grandma about a squeaky spider that got caught in the fresh whitewash on an old woman’s ceiling. So the old woman smashed the spider and its squeaks haunted her the rest of her days. Bwuahahaha. I think I was a disturbed kid… But Grandma used to share the stories I wrote with all the neighbors in her building.

Q2: What drew you to the subject of Choices Meant for Gods?
Sandy Lender: I don’t think I can pinpoint just one aspect of CHOICES MEANT FOR GODS that drew me in. I know the antagonist, Jamieson Drake, revealed the lovely Amanda Chariss to me years ago and I fell in love with her instantly. Then the world she lived in intrigued me. So the subjects of Amanda Chariss and Onweald were the original draw. Once I dove into her story and struggle, I got interested in the idea that the god she’s chosen to protect is losing His followers to complacency and disinterest, which leaves them open to the danger of the big evil bad goddess who wants to usurp His power.

Q3: What do you know now that you are published that you didn’t know pre-published that you wish you knew?
Sandy Lender: You know, I had a pretty good idea that marketing is an expensive venture, but I wish I’d done more research. There are oodles of ways to spend your money when it comes to advertising, swag for your tables, postage, etc. I attended a writer’s workshop that my publisher held prior to my first novel’s release and learned some good stuff about prepping for conferences, doing speaking engagements, sending out review copies, etc. My problem was the rose-colored glasses I wore until my first conference, the first stack of books I walked into the post office with, the first time I sent out post cards. I’m very fortunate because my publishing house has a marketing package together for its authors that includes templates and goodies to make life easier. I don’t have to pay a vendor to build an ad for me or build bookmarks; but I do have to pay to run the ad and print the bookmarks. Now, I’m not complaining because this is life and all us authors have to do it. I just wish that I’d taken a better look at all the different things that were worth spending money on and added up the total—and started a savings account—or opened a certificate of deposit when I was 12.

Q4: Tell me one thing about yourself that very few people know?
Sandy Lender: I once swam with adorable dolphins at the Dolphin Research Center down in the Keys. Kibby, the dolphin who painted a picture on a t-shirt for me, stole my heart and still has it… The swimming experience was amazing. First, you have a class/seminar to make sure you know what you’re doing and won’t harm the animals. Then you slide off this dock into the lagoon and whatever dolphins are “into” the event that day come over and interact with your group. Well, I’m a moron and not a good swimmer, so I slid off the dock and just kept right on going under to drown. The thought in my head was, “Great, one of these dolphins is going to have to save me.” Luckily, the survivor instinct kicked in and I treaded water back up to the surface and lived. J I had the greatest time. One of the “actions” the instructor had me do was swim out a certain number of feet and pretend to be drowning so a dolphin could rescue me and bring me back to the dock. I found that to be the ironic moment of the adventure. I’ve got a picture somewhere of two dolphins kissing my cheek. It’s fabulous.

Q5: What do you consider your strengths in terms of your writing?
Sandy Lender: I consider dialogue one of my strengths. I’m very thankful that I can write a scene where characters speak to each other and readers feel as though they’re sitting in the room with the characters, hearing it happen, or watching it on a movie screen.

Q6: What three things would you want with you on a desert island?
Sandy Lender: Am I allowed to cheat? Because I think a trip to a desert island for about two weeks would be a GREAT idea. Bring it on. Just let me have plenty of pens and paper. But, at the end of the two weeks, the items I want with me on the island:
1) the aforementioned writing utensils
2) a motor boat
3) a GPS

Q7: What place that you haven’t visited would you like to go?
Sandy Lender: There are two places I’d like to visit. One is the Archie Carr Research Center (because I’m quite the sea turtle enthusiast) and the other is Venice. The thing about Venice, though, is I’d need a guide. I don’t want a high-pressure tourist-group kind of guided tour, but a guide who speaks the language, knows where he’s going, won’t let me end up mugged or stabbed, and who will keep quiet when I’m writing. J (I don’t think I make a great vacationer.)

Q8: Who is your greatest cheerleader?
Sandy Lender: A writer friend in Canada who actually started out as a reviewer for me. Jamieson Wolf. I met him through an online group a couple years ago. When I learned that he was a reviewer, I contacted him outside of the group and asked if he’d read and review CHOICES MEANT FOR GODS. He was very polite and forewarned me that he didn’t have a lot of patience with fantasy but would give me a fair reading. He loved the story and we started e-mailing back and forth…we became pals and he’s been an amazing supporter of mine ever since.

Q9: If you have a day job, what is it?
Sandy Lender: I’m editor of a national magazine. Construction.

Q10: If you could ask your readers one question, what would it be?
Sandy Lender: Now that eBooks are gaining so much attention (and my publisher has my books available as such), do you find it easier to find time to read? I guess I’m asking, are you more inclined to pick up and carry an eReader around with you to the doctor’s office or the airport than a paperback or hardcover for those quick snippets of reading time?

About Choices Meant For Gods:

CHOICES MEANT FOR GODS is a Girl Power fantasy adventure where prophecy twists out of control. Captivating humans, wizards, Ungol, and dragons populate the realm of Onweald where even the gods must turn to an unlikely fugitive for help.

Thanks for stopping by Sandy and best of luck on your next venture

Happy News Monday - Vacation

I'm going on vacation on Thursday. I will be silent as I prepare for the festivities and until I get back.
BUT.
I have two authors guest blogging for me this week.
Sandy Lender will join me today (6/22) to talk about her book Choices Meant for Gods.
On my usual guest blogging day, Authorsday, Pearl Wolf will stop by and talk about her new book, Too Hot for a Spy.
You'll have to content yourself with these fine ladies this week.
I know.
You're all crying out there.
I will be back. Refreshed and ready to blog more.
I will brain storm and think about you all.
Not.
Sorry.
It's time to have fun with family.
See y'all next week sometime.

Authorsday - Linnea Sinclair

Today I talk with award-winning author Linnea Sinclair.

Winner of the prestigious national book award, the RITA®, science fiction romance author Linnea Sinclair has become a name synonymous for high-action, emotionally intense, character-driven novels. Reviewers note that Sinclair’s novels “have the wow-factor in spades,” earning her accolades from both the science fiction and romance communities. Sinclair’s current releases are GAMES OF COMMAND (PEARL Award winner and RITA finalist), THE DOWN HOME ZOMBIE BLUES (PEARL Award Honorable Mention), SHADES OF DARK (PEARL Award winner), and HOPE’S FOLLY (Romantic Times Book Reviews Top Pick.)

A former news reporter and retired private detective, Sinclair resides in Naples, Florida (winters) and Columbus, Ohio (summers) along with her husband, Robert Bernadino, and their two thoroughly spoiled cats. Readers can find her perched on the third barstool from the left in her Intergalactic Bar and Grille at www.linneasinclair.com.

When did you know you wanted to be a writer? – I don’t remember not wanting to be a writer. As an only child, I’ve long created stories and people in my imagination. I started reading when I was about four years old and some of my best memories involve lounging in the overstuffed burgundy velvet chair in my parents living room, my nose in a book. When stories didn’t go the way I wanted them to, or didn’t end the way I wanted them to, I rewrote them in my mind. When I was old enough to read the letters on the keys of my mother’s typewriter (yep, typewrite—old fashioned, manual kind with a return bar that went “ding!”), I began typing out my stories and ideas. I created a neighborhood newspaper when I was about nine or ten, interviewing my friends and their parents (used carbon paper between sheets of paper to make copies—yeah, carbon paper. A lot of you probably don’t even know what that is.) I had some excellent English teachers in grammar school and high school who encouraged me to write short stories, and that’s where I received my best grades. I was happiest when I could put what I saw in my imagination down on paper.


Do you plot or do you write by the seat of your pants? – I’m a pantser by nature. Now working to contracted deadlines with Bantam, I’ve become a plot-ser. I plot under duress. It’s painful but I do it. Generally I “leap frog” plot and that’s not my term, and unfortunately I don’t remember the writing site where I first read it, but it’s an accurate description of the way I write: plot three chapters, write them, then plot the next three. That keeps ideas fresh and permits serendipity. Like a lot of pantsers, I find that when I outline an entire book, I lose interest.


What was the name of the first novel you wrote? Did you try to publish it? - Le Petite Chat and no, I didn’t try to publish it. I was only four years old. I typed it on sheets of construction paper and then illustrated it with Crayons. I think it was about five pages. Then I punched a hole in the top and tied it with a ribbon. It was about a little girl and her cat living on a tropical island. I don’t think there was a lot of conflict but it had a happy ending.


What do you know now that you are published that you didn’t know pre-published that you wish you knew? – The amount of energy it takes to do book promotion and how it really saps you. It doesn’t matter if you’re small press published or NY published—I’ve been both. I really thought when I made the jump to Bantam, a major NY house, in 2004 that I’d not have to do the amount of promotion I’d been doing in the small presses. Wrong. Promotion today falls almost totally in the author’s lap, from MySpace to Facebook (I don’t Twitter) to Goodreads, to ads in magazines to blogging and guest blogging, to articles on Internet websites to my own website, to teaching on-line workshops to teaching in-person workshops at conferences, to book signings to book fairs, to my own fan group on Yahoo to the various industry chapter groups and reader groups… it all takes time away from writing. And it can numb the muse. The “business” part of my brain is not the same as the “fiction creation” part of my brain and I’m not someone who can do both simultaneously. Author Nancy Cohen once told me she spends six months writing and six months promoting, but when I have two or three books out a year, that’s just not possible. Very often when a book comes out, I’m already writing the next one and I have to stop for a few weeks and promote the book that just came out. I really need to clone myself.


What was the best writing advice someone gave you? – To read Dwight V Swain’s TECHNIQUES OF THE SELLING WRITER. The how-to tome was written in the 1960s and yep, does mention using carbon paper to make copies of your manuscript. That fact that it’s still around today and still a bible for a lot of successful authors shows how timeless and accurate Swain’s writing advice is. Essentially, Swain is about conflict and about understanding why a reader reads fiction. When you understand the needs of your reader, it’s easier to manipulate them and yes, that’s exactly what Swain teaches you to do: manipulate the emotions of the reader. I think we all know that reading fiction is a vicarious experience—we live the life of the character, we become the character. But understanding why this works and the ways you can hook the reader makes for a better writer and better story. This is what Swain teaches. Over the years, I’ve integrated other excellent writing advice from people like Donald Maass (“Make it worse, make it worse, make it worse…”), Blake “Save the Cat” Snyder, Jack Bickham (who was a protégé of Swain’s) and Jacqueline Litchtenberg (“Conflict is the essence of story.”) But Swain is my foundation.


What was the worst? Did you know it at the time? – I don’t think there is a worst. There are things that don’t work for me in terms of writing advice or techniques that work neato-peachy keen for someone else. I’ve also found that certain techniques may work in one book, and fall flat in the next. Each book brings its own set of characters, conflicts, plot issues, pacing issues that are unique because it’s that book. A wise writer throws nothing out.



Why did you pick the publisher that ultimately published your book? – I didn’t. Bantam picked me. It would be nice if a writer could go to a publishing house and demand, “Buy my book” but that’s not the way it works (well, it does in vanity publishing but not anywhere else). A writer submits his or her manuscripts to various editors in the hopes that one or more will like it enough to make an offer. In my case, my agent shopped my work around and Bantam made us a terrific offer. I’ve been with them through three book contracts now—eight books in all to date. They’re an excellent house to work with and I’m blessed with a wonderful editor who “gets” me, who understands my characters and my goals. Science Fiction Romance is a quirky subgenre of paranormal romance and since I write pretty much a 50/50 split of romance/science fiction, I need an editor who is conversant with the requirements of both genres. Anne Groell is that editor and she’s a joy to work with.

Describe your book. – My current release (March 2009 from Bantam Dell) is HOPE’S FOLLY, which is Book Three in the Dock Five Universe books. FOLLY is related to books one and two (GABRIEL’S GHOST and it’s direct sequel, SHADES OF DARK) but is more of a stand-alone because it’s Philip Guthrie’s story. GABRIEL’S and SHADES are Chaz’s and Sully’s story. FOLLY is high action/adventure space opera and romance. Yeah, I know, a lot going on. It was a hugely fun book to write; Philip really surprised me and has enchanted a lot of readers. Romantic Times BOOKreviews magazine gave FOLLY its highest rating: 4-1/2 stars and named it a Top Pick. Here’s the back blurb:
From RITA Award-winning author Linnea Sinclair comes a high-stakes interstellar adventure infused with thrilling romance.
Admiral Philip Guthrie is in an unprecedented position: on the wrong end of the law, leading a rag-tag band of rebels against the oppressive Imperial forces. Or would be, if he can get his command ship—the derelict cruiser called Hope’s Folly—functioning. Not much can rattle Philip’s legendary cool—but the woman who helps him foil an assassination attempt on Kirro Station will. She’s the daughter of his best friend and first commander—a man who died while under Philip’s command, and whose death is on Philip’s conscience.
Rya Bennton has been in love with Philip Guthrie since she was a girl. But can her childhood fantasies survive an encounter with the hardened man, and newly-minted rebel leader, once she learns the truth about her father’s death? Or will her passion for revenge put not only their hearts but their lives at risk? It’s an impossible mission: A man who feels he can’t love. A woman who believes she’s unlovable. And an enemy who will stop at nothing to crush them both.

The follow-on to FOLLY (again, not a direct sequel but in the same universe) is Devin Guthrie’s story, REBELS AND LOVERS. It’s due out mid 2010 from Bantam Dell. Here’s the working blurb:
OUT OF OPTIONS…Devin Guthrie can’t forget Captain Makaiden Griggs even though it’s been two years since she was in his family’s employ. A Guthrie does not fall in love with a mere shuttle pilot. Going against his wealthy family’s wishes isn’t an option—not with the Empire in political upheaval, much of it caused by Devin’s renegade older brother, Admiral Philip Guthrie. The Guthries must solidify their standing—financially, politically and socially—or risk losing it all. But when the Guthrie heir—Devin’s nineteen-year old nephew— goes missing, Devin’s loyalty to his family’s values is put to the test. And suddenly the unthinkable becomes the only option available: Devin must break the rules and risk allying himself with the one woman he could never forget—and was forbidden to love.



What do you consider your strengths in terms of your writing? – Conflict and characterization. I spend a lot of time and energy on creating characters that will tug at readers’ heartstrings and then I throw them into a whirlwind of problems.


What do you consider your weaknesses? – Plotting. Sometimes I have no freakin’ clue what happens next and that can put me in a dead stop for days.