Confessions of a Sneak

Okay, I’ll ‘fess up. I don’t write Romantic Suspense, at least, not yet. I do write things with lots of suspense, and I have written romance, but I haven’t gotten around to combining them yet.

So why am I here?

Because I snuck in when they weren’t looking, that’s why. You aren’t going to turn me in, are you? I do write good books, exciting books that can get your heart pounding in another way… Let me show you.

THE HOLLOW HOUSE is a cozy murder mystery set in Denver in 1919. Don’t ask me why. I knew nothing about either one – though now I know lots! – but the story wouldn’t let itself be written in any other place or time. The teaser is, “When a murder is committed in her employer’s home, Geraldine Brunton knows she must solve the crime to hide the fact she herself is a killer.” THE HOLLOW HOUSE will be released by Carina on 14 November.

Out now is a tasty little horror novella called LURE OF THE MUMMY. It’s the first horror ever published by Carina Press or, if I have heard it correctly, by Harlequin. Set in my beloved Cairo, LURE is about a down-on-his-luck translator named Bert who acquires an ancient votive cat mummy dedicated to the lion-headed destroyer goddess Sekhmet. It’s just a mummy… or is it? As Bert’s circumstances begin to change, he begins to wonder. Then he looks at the dried-out husk, its wrappings so old and desiccated they are crumbling, and something looks back at him from the bony eye sockets…

LURE OF THE MUMMY had its genesis in two incidents on my latest trip to Egypt last year. In a little town I was exploring while the rest of our group was happily arguing over the hieroglyphs in a small temple, and a strange man appeared from nowhere then tried to sell me a cat mummy. Ick! Then, later, in the Cairo Museum, we saw a number of votive mummies, including the ferocious looking one my dear friend Dr. Salima Ikram likes to call ‘Bad Kitty,’ and the story was born.

Right now I’m working on the revisions of another horror novella, this one entitled TIMELESS INNOCENT. It’s about a not-too-skillful lawyer who has to handle the strange will of some old friends and must deal with a lot of things she can’t really handle, including a crowd of demons.

Awaiting its turn at revision is perhaps the closest thing I have to a Romantic Suspense. It is a Traditional Gothic currently entitled DARK SUN, though I am told that will change. It concerns the daughter of an author of high fantasy novels; she never knew her father, believing that he committed suicide when she was a toddler and might have intended to sacrifice her. His books live on, though, and finally she attends one of the conventions held to honor her father and his works. This particular gathering is at the small college where he once taught, and sponsored by men who knew her father. What she does not expect is the appearance of an old love nor the threat of danger, and especially the fact she must face the possibility that the fantastical world her father created might not be totally fictional.

Both TIMELESS INNOCENT and DARK SUN (under whatever title) will be out sometime in the spring of 2012.

So, not a single real Romantic Suspense in sight, but a lot of pulse-pounding, heart-stopping action and suspense. And a little romance as well.

Ooops! I better go. I think someone just noticed I’m here. Thanks for reading Carina books!

Editors, Revisions and a Double Mummy First

It’s that time again, and I’m stocking up on necessary supplies.

Champagne – my drink of choice no matter what the situation. More practically, Diet Dr. Pepper. Pain au chocolat from this new little French bakery we found. Dark roast coffee. Almond granola bars. And chocolate. Lots of chocolate.

Sounds like I’m anticipating a siege, doesn’t it? Well, I am. I just got the first round of copy edits on my new book and am preparing to lock myself in the office to get them done. More than that, though, to use an old phrase, This Means War.

I am fortunate. I have one of the best editors in the business and like her very much personally. When we aren’t working on a manuscript, I call her a dear friend. However – when we are facing off over the slashed and bleeding bulk of my manuscript, things change.

What does she mean that I have to change a major character’s name? That is the character’s name, and I cannot picture her with any other. It would be like suddenly having to call Jane, whom you’ve known since grade school, Margaret. Of course, I paid no attention to the fact that three other characters have names that begin with the same letter, or that the name is so unusual that some might regard it as a typo.

And what if I left a couple of hours window unaccounted for? Or that a certain character needs more motivation? How does she dare suggest that I change the focus of the ending?

During this process I try desperately to hang on to my vision of my novel, from minor skirmishes over word choice (I was raised to believe that longer is better) to bloody battles over the final resolution. This is my book; it was born in my head and delivered through my fingers, and I know it better than anyone else.

Wherein lies a lot of the problems. There are things in my head that are not on the paper (well, screen, but you know what I mean) and the book is weaker for it. There are things that I simply cannot see are missing, or wrong, or misleading, and that is why we need editors. Good editors. To me, a good editor is one who wants to make my book stronger, not to recreate it into her vision, and I am blessed to have one. Actually, I have two, but being human can only deal with one set of revisions/edits at a time.

Not that we always agree, but our disagreements are always civil, if civil can be stretched to occasional screaming bouts of voluminous hyper-verbosity. (Told you I liked big words!) We’re still friends, so I guess what we’re doing works.

Which does not mean that she walks all over me. When all is said and done, this is my book, my story, my vision, not hers, and it should retain that eternal ‘me-ness.’ (I like to make up words, too.) A good editor like mine recognizes and fosters that.

And a good editor deserves the best I can give, including meeting her deadlines, so I need to get to work. But first I forgot – I need to go get a supply of jelly beans… and maybe some grapes…

However! Before I go… I have news! Before I blog again, which is supposed to be on 26 September, I am going to have a release.

LURE OF THE MUMMY is set in my beloved Cairo and concerns a votive mummy sacred to Sekhmet, the berserker lion-headed goddess. The last time I was in Cairo I was offered such a mummy and, though I didn’t buy it (it’s illegal, I think, to say nothing of how one would get it home) it did give me the idea for the story.

LURE OF THE MUMMY is my first horror novella, but more than that, I have been told that it is the very first EVER horror novel ever published by either Carina or Harlequin! Now does that make me a groundbreaker or a guinea pig? I don’t care – I’m simply delighted!

Now I really must go get those jelly beans and grapes… and maybe some pizza… and definitely some ice cream…