Grappling with a Big Idea

It's my pleasure to have debut author, Gina Robinson, as my guest Over Coffee. As a writer, it's always fascinating to me how authors get their ideas for their stories. I love to catch a glimpse of their writing process, if you will, and hear how the develop those ideas into a novel. Today, Gina discusses how she gets The Big Idea, the love/hate relationship she has with it, and how works the idea into a great story, such as Spy Candy.


As a writer, I often feel like a tiny feather-weight wrestler trying to take down and tame an awesome, intimidating sumo of an idea. At other times, I feel like I’m trying to grasp and wrestle something so light and ethereal that I’ll never get a hold on it. How can you shape a wisp of smoke into a solid brick foundation?

I don’t know about other writers, but my process for crafting a story usually starts with the Big Idea. I read or hear or see something that seems to shout at me, “Now there’s a story!” For example, I read about a fantasy spy camp in a travel magazine. That sparked the idea for my book, Spy Candy, which, oddly enough, is about a woman who goes to a fantasy spy camp and runs into some real intrigue.

But often, the idea’s not even that solid. Sometimes, it’s downright silly. I wrote an entire 100, 000 word manuscript because I read about an Old West detective escaping an angry mob by crawling beneath a wooden boardwalk. I just had to work that into a book. The annals of literature absolutely needed it. So, of course, my hero escaped a hanging mob in the same fashion. It provided a great excuse for our hero to look up the heroine’s skirt as she walked all over him. And for her to retaliate by raining dirt into his eyes through cracks in the boardwalk. Maybe the silly idea that sparked the story explains why the manuscript remains unpublished. And it may very well also explain the phrase, “Here’s mud in your eye!”

My Big Ideas always start out as fuzzy, beautiful things. I almost literally feel them and the emotional responses they’re supposed to elicit. The idea sits floaty and heavenly in my mind, a vague notion. A couple of scenes seen through a fog. At this point, I’m convinced this story will be the best story I’ve ever written. Its story germ is so fabulous, how could it be otherwise?

But even a notion needs some substance to become a real story. So I start researching, note taking, doing a bit of rudimentary plotting and the all-important thinking. After awhile, the researching gets old, and the thinking starts to feel like mere procrastination. It’s time to put the story on the page. But where to start? In whose point of view? Should the opening scene take place in the heroine’s apartment, the lab, or at the coffee shop? Do I need a prologue? Suddenly I hate that mean, nasty sumo wrestler with its arrogant, big idea ways. At that point, I feel like screaming in frustration, “What’s the big idea! Why won’t the story glide onto the page like it’s supposed to?”

That’s the stage I’m at right now. Trying to grapple the Big Idea into some entertaining opening pages. It has me struggling to keep from being pinned when it should be the other way around. I hate that stupid Big Idea. It’s too much for me. I don’t have the skills to write and get it onto the page the way it feels in my head. Why did I ever believe that I could?

But if this story runs true to my pattern, after a few chapters, I’ll gain some strength and pick up writing speed. By mid book, I’ll begin liking my idea again. By the end, I’ll even love it once more as I pin it to the mat. Then I’ll be sorry to see the match end, worthy opponent that the Big Idea was.

But for now, it’s back to—coffee shop or lab?
***

Gina Robinson lives in the Pacific Northwest with her husband and children. In her everyday life, she enjoys quiet, homey pursuits—reading, baking, container and basket gardening, working out at the gym, attending her children’s many activities, and visiting with family and friends. In her fiction, she’s very fond of explosions, gunfights, extreme sports, suspense, humor, and romance. She writes humorous romantic suspense for Zebra Books, Kensington Publishing, NY, NY. Her debut novel, Spy Candy, is available now. Her second novel, Spy Games, will be released in December 2009. For more information about Gina and her books, check out her website at: www.ginarobinson.com

Never Lose The Dream

My guest today is Chris Milson. He talks a bit about his odyssey from short story writer to writing his first novel. His topic is one we can all relate to as writers, the dream of being published and what we go through to realize the dream.

“Never lose the dream”. These words are from the song “Can you feel it” by The Jackson 5. How true those words are.


As a writer, nothing is as satisfying as being able to sit down and write a great story. But being able to write is not easy, as one would hope sometimes. It is not something that can be done by the wave of a hand or thinking, okay, today I am going to write 5 chapters. Writing takes time, dedication and inspiration. Without these three things, one cannot write.I can remember the days when I started writing. It was back in 1989, and I wrote 26 short stories in a matter of a few months. Now, back then and being very naive as to how anything in the real publishing world worked, I thought I'd have the best thing since sliced bread on my hands. Of course, I was wrong. Many told me the stories I wrote needed to be made longer. That was hard for me to take, but it was also true.

In 1989 I had no clue how to do that. I wrote from the first person POV, but what I wanted was to write in the 3rd person POV like Stephen King. The first book I read of his was Misery. That alone was enough for me to know that this was how I wanted to write. Of course, living in the “hopefully-someday-I-may-be-published” mindset, I knew that in order for my dream to come about I had to live in the real world…. And so I did… I lived in the real world and put writing on the shelf for 5 years. In fact, I completely forgot all about it for the most part, although I do have to say that I always had a certain niggling feeling that I had to write again, but I decided to ignore that.

To learn how to write like a professional, I needed to read other writers and see their style. I am not going to say that writing is easy, as it is not. There are many times when we have to sacrifice what we want in order for our dream to be fulfilled, and one is going to get the barrage of negative comments and insults, not only from friends but also some family members also. Not only is there outside influences that give you all the reasons why you can’t, but you have your own inner demons that give you all the excuses why you shouldn’t. I’m sure we’ve all heard these ones we tell ourselves: You need to work to reach your goals. Can’t today, got too many other things to do, but I will get to it later. As I found out, later, sometimes never comes.

In 1994 I was unemployed and living with my father. Back then, the only thing I had to fill my time was writing. So day and night I wrote, until 9 months later I had a two-part novel. Coming up with a title was also not easy. The original short story was titled Shack of Evil in 1989. In 1994 I changed it to Phantasmagoria, then Darkworld, then Phantasdominion, then The Chosen One. It wasn’t until 2007 when I edited the book and I changed the title to The Chosen.

Although I had done what I wanted to do by writing in the 3rd person POV, I once again put my writing life on hold… For what seemed to be an eternity. I locked my writing away to live in the real world again, and for the next 14 years I worked in marketing. Now I'm not going to say that I regretted working in marketing, as I learned a lot. I got to work with some great companies in Australia, New Zealand, UK, Canada and the US. In 2000 I moved from Australia to the States. During my time in the US I worked for a few companies and learned a lot about real marketing. That experience helped me become one of the few multi-national marketing experts today. As great as working freelance and traveling the world can be, writing still holds a strong pull.

One may be wondering how the heck did I get published? To be honest I am still amazed. It was 2007 and I was living in New Zealand. I decided to send out query emails to publishers just to see what response I would get. Naturally I got a wave of the “No thank you” replies from 50-odd publishers, until I got an offer from a small Print On Demand Publisher. That day changed my life. Of course, that did not mean I could pack my bags and head for Hollywood—that rarely happens.

The Chosen was released in July 2008. But then came the real work. How to promote it. I learned a valuable lesson in this. A majority of publishers will expect you to do most, if not all, the legwork. Sad, but it is true. For me, learning how to promote my own work is like relearning everything about marketing. Even though I have 15-years experience behind me in marketing, this is a different arena entirely, and one I am still learning, and sometimes learning comes from making bad choices.

I guess one does not realize the quality of their work until they get feedback. Now I have had some wonderful reviews on the first release, and the feedback from fans and supporters is always a pleasure to read.

Feedback, whether good or bad, is valuable to any writer. It helps us grow in our craft. It makes it all worthwhile.

Never lose the dream.
***
Born in Brisbane, Australia, these days Chris resides in Russia, where he spends most of his time freelancing his marketing services to companies in Canada, the UK and the US. When he’s not working in freelance, he is busy promoting of his novel online.

Chris is a writer of supernatural horror and has also written 28 short stories, and is currently working on his You Tube project about Urban Myths and Legends.

The Chosen follows the life of Alex Manning. A hero called to stand and face a destiny he wants no part of. Currently, The Chosen will be available in English and Russian through Amazon, Bookhabit, Mobipocket, available in Paperback and E-Book, in May 2009. The second novel in the series is titled Bloodline of Darkness and will be available later this year.

The Chosen can be Pre-Ordered through my website: http://authorcamilson.info

How Important Is Cover Art?

~Sia McKye~


"Despite what people say, people do judge a book by its cover" Nightline interview.

A Book cover is a marketing tool. They need to catch the eye. So I'm firmly in the camp that says, yes, what's on the cover is important.

Not all book covers completely reflect what’s in the story line. A savvy publisher is going to observe what is the current style of artwork and utilize it. They’d be stupid not to. As far as I'm concerned, a professional looking cover is vital. There is no excuse for a poorly executed one.

If I’m looking at books to buy—unless if have a particular author in mind—what’s on the cover is what induces me to pick it up. What’s on the back as far as the blurb will decide whether I buy it. A good cover includes a good blurb. Yes, I’m attracted to color but more attracted to a well-executed visual. I never have been attracted to cutesy covers. I usually skip over those that scream amateur.

Regardless of the method of publishing, covers are important. Even Print On Demand books can and should look professional. I saw one recently called Sun Singer, by Malcolm Campbell. It was simple but gorgeous in shades of blue. Recently I saw one that was stunning, called In Her Name, Empire, by Michael Hicks. I had no idea it was produced by a small Indie publisher using Print On Demand Technology, from the cover. If it’s done right, you should HAVE no idea that it’s different from mass-market paperbacks—except for the size. Unfortunately, most of the Print On Demand books are obvious because of their covers or lack of good cover art.

Each genre of books has a cover style. Suspense/mystery are generally darker colors, Romance genre usually have faces or figures, a hunky chest or something to draw the eye. Paranormals can have both or have a rather ethereal effect.

Cover Art is big business in Romance. Harlequin recently had a spot on Nightline regarding their cover art, where they said, “Despite what people say, people do judge a book by its cover. [Harlequin] puts an enormous amount of work and fun into these covers.”

You can see the interview at youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LJGLA0UdqIY

Talking to various authors from both publishing methods, many will submit some sort of pictures, or description of what they see for the covers, be it a face, a body, landscape, a market scene, a city skyline. Give them all the help you can, I figure. Some authors will talk with the design departments but ultimately the design is what the publisher thinks will sell the book. Here's two example of romance book covers I personally like. Both draw me for different reasons. Judi Fennell's, In Over Her Head, because of the rich colors in keeping with a Mer storyline, a hunky chest, and I love the font used. Anna Campbell's, Tempt The Devil, because of the expression of challenge and sex appeal apparent in the man's face. I admit I have quite a favorites of covers but not enough space to show all.

Does Cover Art matter? You'd better believe it does!

What are some of your favorite covers out there and why? What draws you to them? Feel free to give us a link.

***
Sia McKye has spent over twenty years in marketing and promotion. She's written and published various articles on writing, marketing, and promotion. She's a Marketing Rep by profession and also writes fiction. Sia has completed a single title romance trilogy and is busy at work on a fun paranormal series.

Show up!

Today it’s my privilege to have Ken Coffman as a guest Over Coffee. Professionally, Ken is a non-fiction author and an Engineer with Fairchild. Personally, he is a good friend, a bit of a philosopher, a gifted musician, a wonderful storyteller and author of a favorite character of mine, Glen Wilson.

You could say his topic today embodies the philosophy he lives by: Be bold. Take the lead. Show up.

80% of success is showing up.- Woody Allen

What is the right percentage? 80% of success is showing up? I’ve heard 90%, 95%, and even 100%. Let’s not quibble, my friends. Some high percentage of success comes from showing up. But, what the hell does that mean?

I feel like I understand the concept and it doesn’t mean success is easy. Showing up sounds easy, so what’s going on? Let’s suppose you’re sitting in a room with one hundred other people. If you have a question, the physical effort of raising your hand is nothing. You lift that heavy hand hundreds of times a day. But the courage to take the chance, to draw attention to yourself, to risk asking the stupidest question ever asked…that takes courage. Grit. Guts. In this case you gotta show up by raising that heavy hand.

Let me illustrate with an example from my life. Every few years when I can afford it and the mood strikes me, I will act as concert promoter. A while back, I booked a show with Patrick Moraz. Patrick is a world-renowned keyboardist and pianist who played with Yes and The Moody Blues. Truly, he is as close to a modern incarnation of Mozart that we will see in our lifetime. That sounds over-the-top and ludicrous, doesn’t it? But, check it out. You’ll see.

For an opening act, I decided to book a friend, Eric Dahl. Eric is a talented songwriter/storyteller, but I remember the day he told me he didn’t know how to play the guitar. I’d seen him perform and loved his songs…how could it be that he ‘knows not’ how to play? As it turns out, a guitar-playing friend tunes his acoustic guitar to an open chord and all Eric has to do is move his thumb and index finger up and down the neck to play simple patterns. As an aside, this is the way Glen Wilson (from my novel series, the continuing adventures of Glen Wilson, which starts with Steel Waters) also plays the guitar. This is in no way coincidental, but never mind that.

The concert was fun and the audience ate it up. Then, at the end, for an encore, a group of people wanted to hear Eric playing with Patrick. My heart sank. This would be a disaster… We can’t combine one of the premier pianists of the world with a fellow who does not know how to play the guitar. Sensing a meltdown, I sank into my seat and tried to disappear.Here’s what happened. Eric got on stage, grinned at the crowd and started playing and singing a simple, funky bluesy pattern. Genius that he is, Patrick joined in and played wild, creative and amazing accompaniment. It was great. Perfect. Beautiful. And taught me a valuable lesson. I have the recording. It’s cool.

The life lesson?

Be bold. Take the lead. Show up.

What does this mean to my fellow writers? We’ll have setbacks. The blank page will sit on our screen and mock us. We’ll get a bad review. Another rejection letter. We’ll lose a contest. It can be overwhelming, paralyzing and depressing. That’s life. What should we do? Work! Perfect your skill at creating characters, designing a story arc and executing your ideas with good grammar, vocabulary and syntax. No matter where you started and no matter where you are today, you can get better and inch closer to your goal. Step-by-step. Day-by-day.

And that’s what I’m doing. Thanks Eric.

***

Ken Coffman is the author of Steel Waters, Hartz String Theory and other mad novels available from Amazon.com and other online bookstores. He wrote a popular technical book called Real World FPGA Design with Verilog published by Pearson-Prentice Hall.

He is a Field Applications Engineer and Member of the Technical Staff at Fairchild Semiconductor.

He is the coauthor of six patents, a member of the standards association of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, and a guitar player. He plays golf exactly the way his boss wants him to: very poorly.

FORGETFULNESS

Like many writers today, Cheryl Brooks leads a busy life. She’s wife, mother, caretaker of an assortment of critters, and works full time as a Critical Care Nurse. Did I happen to mention she has five cats? I think she likes felines, a lot. Cheryl has also written a wonderful series called The Cat Star Chronicles.

Busy lives means juggling and juggling means we’re going to forget something along the way; I figure that’s why sticky notes were invented. Today Cheryl talks a bit about forgetfulness.

I used to have a nearly photographic memory. I didn't forget anything, not the details of a lecture in school, not directions on how to do a procedure, not what time I was supposed to be somewhere, or what I was supposed to bring. Taking tests was easy because I could picture in my mind the page and paragraph where the answers to specific questions were located. Oh, how I wish those days were here again! It's just my luck that my writing career seems to have taken off just when my mind has decided to leave town.

I'm not alone. Meryl Streep once said she never had any trouble remembering her lines until she hit menopause. All of my friends who are about my age are having similar difficulties—walking into a room and not knowing what you went in there for, being in the shower and washing your feet twice because you don't remember washing them the first time, and forgetting to write that blog you promised to send to Sia. . .

Fortunately, the written word is there to remind us of what we've forgotten; little nudges to help avoid looking stupid. Looking back through blog comments, I found one from Sia on Wickedly Romantic that I hadn't seen, which mentioned this particular contribution. If it hadn't been for that, I probably would have felt really dumb when Sia said, at some point: “So, what about that blog you promised me?”

My husband and eldest son are tickled to death with the loss of my memory because now I'm no different from them. My youngest son has taken over as the memory vault for the family. He never forgets anything, and being mildly autistic, he has very few qualms in pointing out to you just what you've neglected. Unfortunately, he only remembers things that I remember to tell him.

This can cause problems for a writer because you have to constantly look back to see if you've already described the hero's startling green eyes or the heroine's long, silky tresses. Sometimes those details can be very difficult to find, too—mainly because they usually aren't where you remember putting them. The “find & replace” function is quite useful—if you can remember a key word. Thank heaven for email providers with unlimited storage capacities. If I had to shuffle through actual letters, I'd never make it. As it is, I'm so pleased I can point out that, yes, in the email dated such-and-such, I told you about. . .

A few days ago, I recalled (amazingly enough) the old adage that “Rosemary is for Remembrance.” Desperate to recover that which I had lost, I made some rosemary tea, which I drank a few sips of off and on throughout the day—and, yes, it tastes just as bad as you think it would. I believe it helped some, but obviously, I should have made more of it today when I went to the bank and forgot to bring along the checks that needed cashing.

Some days, it just doesn't pay to leave the house.

***

Cheryl Brooks is the author of The Cat Star Chronicles. This series of erotic science fiction novels explores the lives of the last of a race of feline lovers captured in war and sold into slavery. Discover how the men of Zetith could make an entire galaxy of men jealous enough to destroy their race...

Slave was the first of Cheryl's books to be published with Sourcebooks Casablanca. What makes it even more exciting is that they have asked for five more novels in this series!

Cheryl is a native of Louisville, KY, and graduated from the Kentucky Baptist Hospital School of Nursing and then went on to earn a BSN from Indiana University. Horse crazy from the time she knew what a horse was, her family moved to rural Indiana in 1989. Since then, she's managed to accumulate four horses and five cats. Cheryl has been working full-time as a critical care nurse for more than thirty years, which can be exciting, but she's itching for a different kind of excitement!

Cheryl's other interests include cooking, gardening, singing and guitar playing. "I'm really hurt that The Eagles got back together without me!"

You can visit Cheryl at her website: http://cherylbrooksonline.com/index.html . And catch her blogs at Wickedly Romantic http://wickedlyromantic.blogspot.com/ andn Cheryl Brooks Erotic Blogspot

Available in June 2009

Bringing Back The Spark—Writing Three-Dimensional.

~Sia McKye~


To me, the connotation of “spark” is putting life in your writing. I think you can have a distinct voice and still not quite have the spark there. For me, it’s that moment when my characters become real, or come to life on the pages. They act and react realistically, and not always as I may have originally envisioned the situation. It’s not so much you, the author, writing their lines…more like you as the author are channeling your character’s lives on to the pages of your story.

One of the ways I know I haven’t gotten the spark is when I’ve written something and there is that niggling feeling that tells me something isn’t right or something is off in this scene. It feels …flat. It might be that I’m trying to force my characters into a situation, or plot area, they wouldn’t be in, or have them reacting in a way, given their backgrounds, they wouldn’t. Or I’m trying to take the easy way out in solving their problems.

I think about how an actor approaches a role. As an actor, you have to step into your character, see who they are, how they react, understand what their goals are, what their motivations are, and what their conflicts are. Once you understand those things, then you know how these characters will act and react in pretty much any situation. You have to be able to do that to portray them in a play or on the screen. An actor can know the character they are depicting so well, that if a scene is rewritten they can and will argue it isn’t right, the character wouldn’t do this or that.

I think as a writer we need to do the same. We have to know our characters well to do justice to them. Some writers put together elaborate files on each character, likes, dislikes, favorite colors, etc. My files aren’t that elaborate. Many times I don’t have the character file when I start my story. I do by the end of the story. I usually write the beginning of the story. My file grows as I write. This is also where I dump exposition edits I’ve done that define my characters, things I need to know, but my reader doesn’t.

There are times when something doesn’t feel right but I can’t put a finger on it, other than my characters are feeling like one-dimensional paperdolls. It’s time for what I call Dr. Sia’s couch time. I put my characters on the psych couch and start analyzing them. I will sit down and write out each main character’s goals, motivations, external and internal conflict. I do this with the villain too. By the time I’m finished, sometimes before I’ve finished, I usually have that ah-ha moment and I can see clearly where I went wrong. The black moment is in the wrong place, or I’m making it a soft gray moment rather than black, maybe my hooks to draw my reader forward are dull or indistinct—not good. Seeing what’s wrong may also mean some rewrites but it puts me back on track and my characters and story again become three-dimensional. It makes their reaction to conflict sharper. Reaching their goals sweeter. It makes a better story.

Life is good again because my characters are back to being real people acting and reacting realistically.

The spark is back and the one-dimensional paperdolls are gone.

***

Sia McKye has spent over twenty years in marketing and promotion. She's written and published various articles on writing, marketing, and promotion. She's a Marketing Rep by profession and also writes fiction. Sia has completed a single title romance trilogy and is busy at work on a fun paranormal series.

Sweet Justice Is Coming

A frequent question readers, and often—other writers, ask a Best-Selling author, is where do you get your ideas? How do you develop the idea into a story? How do you research it? What is your motivation for using certain topics?

Best selling author, Jordan Dane, answers some of these questions and explains the reasons behind her Sweet Justice Series.

Imagine the horror of going to your teenager’s bedroom one morning only to find her missing. Her bed hadn’t been slept in and her clothes are gone.

In 2000, that’s what one mother in Florida faced. Her only child had conspired against her and ran away. And worse, she later discovered that her daughter had left the country—without having a passport. From the moment I read this news story, I was hooked and had to know more about how such an atrocity could happen. The teen’s trail might have gone ice cold, but her mother pushed authorities in a direction.

She knew where to start looking.

Only six months earlier, the girl had received a computer for a gift—a thoughtful present from a mother who wanted the best for her child. But this gift soon brought a virtual menace into their home. A charming and anonymous stranger lured the 14-year old girl to Greece—a man she’d met in a teen chat room. We’ve all heard stories like this. But after researching the facts behind this case, I was amazed at the audacity of this Internet predator.

And I wanted to shed light on the shrewd tactics of online predators in my upcoming book—Evil Without A Face (Feb 2009, Avon, $7.99)—the first book in my Sweet Justice series.

The online predator not only manipulated the teenager in Florida, but he also convinced law-abiding adults to cooperate with his schemes. These people thought they were helping an abused kid, but they didn’t know the facts, check with her family or contact local law enforcement. This stranger duped an employee of the local phone company into arranging for a private cell phone to talk to the girl directly. His slick manipulation scored him a purchased airline ticket (without a direct connection to him) and a clandestine ride for the girl to the airport. But after he bribed a child pornographer to acquire an illegal passport for her to leave the United States, the girl was out of the country before her mother knew she was gone.

And the chase to save the girl was on—a mother’s worst fear.

Now I know what some of you are thinking. This happened in 2000, before the added airport security measures were implemented after 9/11 in 2001. The girl would never have been allowed on a plane without proper ID. But after contacting a source in the airline industry, I was shocked to learn how many children travel unaccompanied and without a valid ID on domestic flights these days. So this extraordinary Florida case became the framework for my novel, Evil Without A Face. And I chose to set part of the story in the unique venue of Alaska where I had lived for ten years.

My novels have the feel of being ripped from today's headlines because real crime inspires me. Who says crime doesn't pay? Violence is like the ripple effect on the surface of still water. The wake radiates out from the victim and touches many people. In my books, I give a voice to the many victims of crime.

In Evil Without A Face, an illusive web of imposters on the Internet lures a deluded teen from her Alaskan home and launches a chain reaction collision course with an unlikely tangle of heroes. A new kind of criminal organization becomes the faceless enemy behind an insidious global conspiracy. And the life of one young girl and countless others hang in the balance. This is the initial driver to my new series. With an international setting, these thrillers will focus on the lives and loves of three women—a bounty hunter operating outside the law, an ambitious vice cop, and a former international operative with a mysterious past. These women give Lady Justice a whole new reason to wear blinders.

And their brand of justice is anything but sweet.

After researching the case in Florida, I became more concerned for naïve kids socializing in cyberspace—young people like my nieces and nephews. Savvy online criminals lurk in anonymity and carry on without fear of repercussion. I’m an active member of MySpace and Facebook and know how they operate. But these social networks aren’t the problem—the criminals are. And as you’ve seen in the headlines and on TV, the online community has become a real hunting ground for predators.

Why not? It’s easy pickings.

For the most part, the Internet is an invaluable tool. And it breaks down the barriers between countries, allowing many of us to have international friends. But the anonymity of cyberspace attracts all sorts of users with criminal intent. Terrorists have found new high-tech ways to recruit online and they have duped some Internet users into funding their activities or have resorted to outright stealing through subterfuge. And since crimes that cross over jurisdictions and international borders are harder to prosecute, offenders often get away with their schemes. That's why I wanted to write Evil Without A Face and dole out my brand justice. After all, who couldn’t use a liberal dose of ‘Sweet Justice’ when reality becomes stranger than fiction?

How has your use of the Internet changed over the years? Have you become more suspicious of certain behaviors from online strangers? And if you have children who use online resources, can you share some tips on how you keep them safer?

***

Avon/Harpercollins launched Jordan Dane’s debut suspense novels in a back to back publishing event in Spring 2008 after the 3-book series sold in auction. Ripped from the headlines, Jordan's gritty plots weave a tapestry of vivid settings, intrigue, and dark humor. Publishers Weekly compared her intense pacing to Lisa Jackson, Lisa Gardner, and Tami Hoag—romantic suspense that “crosses over into plain thriller country”. Pursuing publication since 2003, this national best selling and critically acclaimed author received awards in 33 national writing competitions. And recently, her debut novel NO ONE HEARD HER SCREAM was named Publishers Weekly Best Book of 2008 and Romantic Times Magazine nominated NO ONE LIVES FOREVER as Best Intrigue Novel of 2008. Formerly an energy sales manager in the oil and gas industry, she now is following her passion to write full time. Jordan and her husband share their residence with two cats of highborn lineage and the sweet memory of an impossible to forget canine. For more, visit www.jordandane.com.

Coming in November, 2009: THE WRONG SIDE OF DEAD