News for February

Those of you on Facebook might have noticed that I’ve been engaged in political debate more than somewhat. I do want to assure my readers that my Facebook author page, my website and blog will continue to be politics-free. Although my views might bleed through to my books, having been subjected to politics thinly disguised as fiction at school, I will never, ever, write politics disguised as fiction! I hate books that preach, and I avoid them, so I won’t subject my readers to the same thing. While I do think that every concerned citizen should engage, I also think there’s a time and a place for engagement, and romantic fiction isn’t it. I write stories about people, and how they cope with the world around them, whether that be an imaginary world, a historical world, or the contemporary world. Since I write romance, it gets even more personal. So - no politics here, or on my Facebook author page, or in my blog. Promise.

Under my other name, I’m writing a book about the President of the USA. I’ve been building the series to this point, so I can hardly back off, but I never, ever imagined this storm going off when the book was due. My President doesn’t hold any similarities with the real life incumbent, though. He’s a shape-shifter, and he’s in a poly relationship. And he’s gorgeous (of course he is!) So all that Facebook stuff was partly research. I waded into the truly weird at times, but the research into the way people think was invaluable. I don’t like to write one-note villains, I want them to have a point of view that, however twisted, works for them, so I’ve been to places that, frankly, scared me to death. But I did it in the name of research, and research is king. I also did some great research into practicalities like the layout of the White House. I found an old video of Jackie Kennedy showing people around the place, which was lovely and picked up lots of information about the way communication works, even semi-secret tunnels generally referred to as underground walkways, so the people using them don’t have to leave the premises. But I’ll take it. There’s nothing like a secret tunnel to get the imagination going!

This month I’ve been busy writing a contracted book that won’t see the light of day for a while. It’s an mm - my very first. I’ve written mfm and mmf menages before (I know, the acronyms can make my head spin). Mfm is where both men play with the woman, and mmf is where everybody plays with everybody else. But a relationship without a woman, a gay romance, is an entirely different thing. The connection is different, even the way they communicate. Research is limited to the personal aspect, so I just went with two people in love, and stopped stressing about gender. This is a novella, under 50000 words, so there’s only one sex scene. It didn’t feel right to fling these two into bed together. Since it’s a historical, I had to cope with the, to us, horrible notion that gay men could be hanged, and engaging in a gay physical relationship was truly dangerous. I had to face some unpleasant truths, but the book is done now, and my agonising worked out well, I think. I’ll let you be the judges when it comes out.

Next is the President book. After that, I have one more contracted book, and there are a few proposals and self published projects in the air.

But I also have other books coming out soon, which I’ve detailed below. I’m thrilled to bring a new audience to the Counterfeit Countess, as it has been in the Amazon top selling historicals this month in the new anthology Love Across Time. You can still get the single title, but why do that, when for now it can be bought in an anthology with a number of other great titles?

I’m going to start outlining a new project soon. I’ve had an idea for a new historical series that I’m itching to write. The central character is closely based on a real person, a woman who never married because she was too wealthy. Each book will feature one of her protegees, and as well as a romance, there’ll be a strong mystery element. Historical detectives? I originally planned Richard and Rose to be like that, but their personal lives overwhelmed the series and became too tempting to resist. I know where I’d love the series to go, but I’ll have to wait and see, get it planned out, outlined and the first bit written.