I'm so happy to have Linda Wisdom visiting today. I enjoy her books. Good stories with a touch of whimsical, a hefty dollop of bubbling magic (not to mentions some red hot romance), and she makes me laugh. A lot. Linda cracks me up on so many levels and I genuinely like what I know of her.
I find myself reassuring authors, more than a few times, that telling us a bit about themselves means giving us insight to who they are and not a list of likes and dislikes, or their deepest darkest secrets. Many of us who write are rather introverted, but it's fun to see how authors, like Linda, view their writing, and how life experiences shape how they treat others and how they develop their characters and the landscape of their settings. I love Linda's characters. Now, I understand why they're so real and fun. Why friendships are important to them, why the characters have the pets, foibles and all, that they have. They're important to Linda and that's reflected in her wonderful stories. One of these days, I'm going to pull up a chair at a conference and bask in Linda's wonderful sense of humor and find out more about her critters.
Thank you so much Sia for having me here!
Anyone who’s known me for a long time is aware
I’m actually very shy. Ask me about myself and I sort of stare at the floor.
I’m not trying to be difficult, but I can’t imagine anyone wants to know about
me.
Ask me about my critters and I’ll talk your ear
off. Ask me about my books and your other ear will follow ear number one. And
you’ll be running for the hills.
I think it also has to do with something that
happened in 1983 when I was still a newly published author with my third book
just out. I was at a very large group signing and met an author who I’d enjoyed
for some years. I was so excited to have a chance to meet her and tried to do
my best not to gush. The minute the woman learned I wrote category romance I
was suddenly relegated to the lowest of the low. She was so rude to me that I
couldn’t believe anyone would act like that. I didn’t read her books after
that. That could be why I feel better when my books speak for me.
Perhaps it’s because I’m an only child that my
characters have always been real to me. I see them in 3-D inside my head and
there are times when I’m positive Fluff and Puff the magick bunny slippers are
roaming the house, Irma’s taken over the passenger seat in my SUV, or Maggie’s
on duty if I’m running errands after dark. Who knows, maybe Lili’s around when
I’m sick and Cleo’s crooning the Soft Kitty song.
Whether writing or reading, the characters are
important to me. They are what rounds out the story.
I can sit here and talk about Lili, how she came
about in my head (you have to admit it’s kind of funny to have a witch doctor
heroine), what kind of man will enter her life, and what creature will be her
sidekick.
Lili made her first appearance in 50 Ways to Hex Your Lover as wallmail
correspondence between her and Jazz. I wasn’t entirely sure when her book would
appear in the series. I have a file with notes, ideas of her story, and
creature thoughts.
I also knew it meant deciding what historical
facts I’d weave into the book. One I won’t mention since it has to do with the
plot and one of the characters.
Creating an asylum as dark and disgusting as I
did was actually easy. A movie I’ve watched more than once is Bedlam, starring Boris Karloff. A
“hospital” housing the mentally ill in ways no one would want to comprehend. A Demon Does It Better was the perfect
background for an asylum and easy to create a demon hero who was literally
branded a homicidal maniac. Especially, when you consider the hospital was
ultra-modern and the dungeon was still back in the 1700s. Although there is the
hospital greeter, a vulture perched over the hospital doorway announcing
everyone will die. Yes, he’s a bit of sunshine.
Cleo was easy since I wanted a diva kitty and
giving her Cleopatra’s heritage made it fun.
A
Demon Does It Better is special for two very good reasons. It’s
dedicated to my mom who passed away last fall and to a wonderful friend,
Beverly Barton, who I also miss every day.
This is what I can talk about. Characters,
families and friends who all seem to be intertwined.
What does it mean to you? Would you prefer
knowing everything about the author (although please don’t ask my weight or how
I lost my virginity! No joke. Someone did ask me that once!) or about the
books?
A DEMON DOES IT BETTER BY LINDA WISDOM – IN STORES JANUARY 2012
A madhouse is not place for a curious witch…After more than a century, Doctor Lili Carter, witch healer extraordinaire, has returned to San Francisco and taken a job at Crying Souls Hospital and Asylum, where something peculiar and wicked is happening. Patients are disappearing, and Lili wants to know why.
And double dangerous for a demon…Lili finds herself undeniably attracted to perhaps the most mysterious patient of all—a demented but seriously sexy demon named Jared. What’s behind the gorgeous chameleon demon’s late-night escapades?
Before long, Lili and Jared are investigating each other—and creating a whole new kind of magic. Excerpt
BUY: AMAZON, BARNES and NOBLE, INDIGOca
~*~*~*~
Linda Wisdom has published more than 70 novels with 13 million copies sold
worldwide including traditional, paranormal, humor, action/adventure romance,
and romantic suspense. Her bestselling books have been nominated for RT Book
Reviews awards and the Romance Writers of America Rita Award. She lives with
her husband in Murrieta, California. For more information, please visit www.LindaWisdom.com.
