Celebrating Women’s Fiction

Linda Francis Lee on Contrasting Civilizations

Interview by Kassia Krozser

Author Linda Francis Lee, a native Texan now calling New York City home, is the author of nine historical romances. Doves’s Way is Lee’s stunning new novel, an extraordinary tale of redeeming love.

Lee’s career truly began with the publication of Blue Waltz, which has been viewed as a breath-through novel. The Atlanta Journal/Constitution called it “an absolutely stunning story . . .

“I wanted to write a book about someone who steps into a world that is completely foreign to her. A stranger in a strange land.”

” Subversion: Tell us a bit about Dove’s Way.

Linda Francis Lee: Dove’s Way is the first book in the Hawthorne Brothers Trilogy. It is the story of the middle son, Matthew Hawthorne, who saves Finnea Winslet’s life on a train in Africa, linking them together in ways neither of them want, but can’t deny. This is brought home when Matthew and Finnea meet again in the very proper confines of Boston Society, where she wants to fit in, and he no longer can given the scandal that had sent him to Africa in the first place.

S: What inspired Dove’s Way?

LFL: I wanted to write a book about someone who steps into a world that is completely foreign to her. A stranger in a strange land. At the time, I was reading a great deal about Africa, and I was mesmerized by its harsh, unforgiving beauty. But rather than take an outsider to Africa, I got excited about taking a woman who had been born in Boston, but raised in the African Congo by her wanderlust father, and returning her to Boston. On the outside, she looks like she belongs. But in truth, she knows nothing about these people and their strict and proper ways. I wanted to bring the beauty and freeness of Africa to a rigid Boston society–and see what happened. As you might imagine, the transition is a bumpy one. To try to lessen the bumps, Finnea Winslet turns to Matthew Hawthorne, who had saved her life in Africa.

[Read more →]

Lori Foster on Being an “Ordinary Writer”

Interview by Kassia Krozser

Lori Foster published her first book in January of 1996. Her second book launched the Harlequin Temptation Blaze subseries. Since then, she’s published 15 books (with 26 sold), including two single titles and several novellas.

Lori also does frequent articles for Writer’s Digest, articles for the online writers’ colony, Painted Rock, and has a bi-monthly column in RWR interviewing romance editors. She regularly presents workshops to her local chapter and at various conferences, including RWA National. Though Lori loves writing, her first priority will always be her family. She and her husband have been together since high school, and her three sons, all humorous, handsome, and honorable fellows, are quickly following in their father’s footsteps.

Subversion: Your new Harlequin book (with the spiffy multi-word title) is In Too Deep. Can you tell us something about this story?

Lori Foster: Yeah, isn’t that cool that I’ve advanced from the one-worders? <G> They were fun while they lasted.

[Read more →]

Karen Wiesner on Mapping the Territory

Interview by Kassia Krozser
When she learned she was to be electronically published, Karen Wiesner vowed to learn everything she could about the field. Now, she’s taken the information and created a book for electronically published authors — and those who want to be.

Karen is the bestselling author of three ongoing romance series published by Hard Shell Word Factory, a short
story in the Mistletoe Marriages Anthology currently available from DiskUsPublishing. She also does
monthly Inkspot column titled Electronic Publishing Q & A .

Subversion: What made you decide to write this book?
[Read more →]

Marilyn Grall on Her Favorite Books

Whether we like it or not, romance readers are stereotyped. Despite being well-acquainted with the image, we at Subversion have yet to meet a single reader who fits the popular image of a romance reader (okay, maybe there are a few out there who nibble on chocolate while reading …).

However, we can cite countless examples of readers who don’t fit the stereotype — we call them Subversives. Read on to learn more about our favorite Subversives.

Name: Marilyn Grall
Profession: Author/medical transcriptionist/wife and mom
Residence: Oklahoma
Age group: 46 years young

How long have you been reading romance?
For over 30 years.
[Read more →]

Susan Krinard on Werewolves and the Women Who Love Them

Interview by Kassia Krozser

Susan Krinard, trained as a visual artist, turned to writing when a friend - after reading a short story that Susan had written - suggested that she try her hand at romance novels. The rest, as they say, is history. Susan sold her first book, Prince of Wolves, to Bantam. Since that time, Susan’s books have made their way onto several bestseller lists and the author continues to break ground as she explores the worlds of werewolves, vampires, and ghosts - typical Susan Krinard characters.

A native Californian, Susan lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with her husband, Serge Mailloux, a dog and two cats.

Subversion: The new one is Touch of the Wolf. Can you tell us a little more about this book?

Susan Krinard: I’ve always loved writing about my race of loups-garous, or werewolves, and I’ve had an idea for some time that I wanted to create an entire werewolf “family tree,” stretching back into history. I also wanted to try a series, so I decided to set the first of this loosely based “trilogy” in Victorian England, with the remaining two books set in America in the late 1800’s. [Read more →]

ImaJinn Launches Line Aimed Toward The Paranormal Reader

Fans of paranormal romance frequently lament the decreasing numbers of titles being published in their favorite subgenre. It seems that an author of these books felt the same way. ImaJinn Books, a new publisher of New Age, or “Other Worldly” Romance will launch in October, 1999 with three titles which provide a representative sample of the types of books they will publish. Their launch month books are: A Love Through All Tim e by Jean Nash; Cupid: The Amorous Arrow by J.M. Jeffries; and Dreamsinger by J.A. Ferguson. Future releases include titles from favorite authors like Nancy Gideon.

ImaJinn (pronounced Imagine) Books was founded by Linda Kichline (a.k.a. Carin Rafferty), who wrote the witch and warlock trilogy Touch of Night, Touch of Magic, and Touch of Lightning for Topaz Books. An avid reader of New Age romance herself, Linda was disappointed to see the market for these books dwindling, and the mail she received from her readers indicated they were just as disappointed. Linda decided to start ImaJinn Books and specialize in this area of romance fiction to fulfill both her and her readers’ wishes for more New Age romance. When asked how she came up with the name ImaJinn, Linda said she wanted a name that was magical and would reflect the type of books she wanted to publish. If you break down the word ImaJinn, you come up with “I’m a Jinn.” She says genies are about as magical as you can get.

[Read more →]

Introducing Kathy Boswell

Whether we like it or not, romance readers are stereotyped. Despite being well-acquainted with the image, we at Subversionhave yet to meet a single reader who fits the popular image of a romance reader (okay, maybe there are a few out there who nibble on chocolate while reading …). However, we can cite countless examples of readers who don’t fit the stereotype — we call them Subversives. Read on to learn more about our favorite Subversives.

Name: Kathy Boswell
Profession: Homemaker to a husband and three children and part time medical transcriptionist
Residence: Beaufort, South Carolina
Age group: 40ish

How long have you been reading romance?
I’ve been reading romance since I was 12. I cut my teeth on Barbara Cartland and then graduated up to Kathleen Woodiwiss, Rosemary Rodgers and Shirlee Busbee in the 1970’s.
[Read more →]

Alison Kent On The Male Psyche and To-Die-For Heroes

Interview by Kassia Krozser

Alison Kent is known to her fans as the creator of steamy heroes and even steamier romances. Her latest Harlequin Temptation furthers that image as Alison tells the story of a woman and the four (yep, four) men who love her.

In real life, Alison is newly wed to her own romance hero, is the mother of three, and lives in a suburb of Houston. She’s been writing for ten years with her first book, written under the name Michaila Callan, published in 1993. In addition to her Alison Kent titles, she’s also writing for the new Zebra Bouquet line as Michaila Callan.

Read our review of Four Men & A Lady

[Read more →]

Introducing Falcon

Whether we like it or not, romance readers are stereotyped. Despite being well-acquainted with the image, we at Subversion have yet to meet a single reader who fits the popular image of a romance reader (okay, maybe there are a few out there who nibble on chocolate while reading …).

However, we can cite countless examples of readers who don’t fit the stereotype — we call them Subversives. Read on to learn more about our favorite Subversives.

Name: Falcon
Profession: Sales & Marketing Executive
Residence: Southern California
Age group: 40-50
How long have you been reading romance: 29 years

[Read more →]

Alice Duncan on Humor and Writing Full-Time

Alice Duncan packed up her bags, dogs, and computer, and moved to Roswell, New Mexico to concentrate on writing full-time. And while Roswell offers a writer many advantages - solitude, a relatively inexpensive lifestyle, UFOs - it’s missing a component that Alice considers critical: ethnic food.

Read our review of Bittersweet Summer

After all, the fastest way to convince Alice to talk about her life and work is to bribe her with … oh, Indian food.

Writing full-time means that Alice must be prolific, which suits her perfectly. But, as she notes, “I write fast and I’m not Nora Roberts, and nobody would buy five Alice Duncan books in a year.” So, in addition to writing under her own name, Alice also publishes romances as Rachel Wilson and Emma Craig. Conveniently, Rachel and Emma share the same wry sense of humor and light style as Alice, mainly because she doesn’t do “a lot of angst.”

[Read more →]