The Girdle of Melian

nterview! With the amazing Barbara Rogan ! I first met Barbara through the Compuserve Books and Writers Community (thank you, Diana Gabaldon ), and recently participated in her Revising Fiction Workshop , which helped me no end when I was trying to finalise the edits for Out of the Water (also, thanks to Matthew , I'm going to revise my query again!). And now, here's Barbara, first as an author, and then as an editor: As an author... Which is the most embarrassing song, book, movie or TV show that you love? I watch those high-end real-estate reality shows, "Selling New York" and the like, which is pure voyeurism: seeing how the 1% live and imagining myself in those houses. Which of your characters is most like you? There's some of me in all of them, including (or especially) the villains. I do feel a great affinity with one character from my second book, Café Nevo : Emmanuel Yehoshua Sternholz a 72-year-old waiter in a Tel Aviv café. Sternholz is alw...

uestions! More questions! I've mixed up a few from Cherie and from Julie : 1. What's your favourite item of clothing and why? Leggings. I'm really excited that they're back. 2. If you could have any exotic or fantastical pet, what would you have? Misha mentioned a cat-sized dragon ... 3. What is your current writing project? Ayten's story, Rome, Rhymes and Risk (historical romance, set in 1493): Ayten, an Ottoman girl kidnapped as a slave, is rescued and embarks on a voyage across the Mediterranean with her new friends, on their way to join Columbus' second voyage. She finds herself falling for the man who owns the ship: Devran, the son of the Grand Vizier. Exiled for a crime he did not commit, Devran's also got one secret: before Ayten was kidnapped, her father had arranged for her to marry Devran. Devran's been in love with Ayten for months - but having met him only after his exile, Ayten believes him a penniless rake. Their ship doc...

riday fun facts! That's the name of the fun new weekly feature Karen has on her Outlandish Observations blog. They're all Outlander -related, of course, but interesting even if you haven't read the novels, including titbits about 18th Century printing presses, poisonous tomatoes, what a bodhran sounds like, electric eels, and more. [Don't forget the Campaign Challenge! My post is below the post about Talli. If you like my entry, please click on Like on Rach's page - I'm number 24] I've been distracted by reviewing former blog posts for Pinterest , and noticed that I barely knew how to format a blog post when I first started, in 2007. Some of my links are spelled out, and there are hardly any images - some posts are only one one sentence long! One of the first to feature an image was the post where I talked of discovering  a photo of my character Austin , from the MG The Face of A Lion . Along the way, I found a quote from Joanna Bourne, featuring Tolk...

on't forget to take a look at my challenge entry below, if you're part of Rach's campaign! Abebooks did a round up of romance book covers over the years, featuring recurring motifs of nurses, uncomfortable embraces, floating heads, another tropes. While the article generally deplores the kind of 'art' that's graced the covers of this genre over the years, it also seems to reinforce the point that these novels are mostly about fantasizing and escapism - as is science fiction and fantasy. Er, no. There are worlds in those stories, and there can be just as much character development and interaction as in any other genre of story. They're not all fluff. Unfortunately, they're right about the old covers: "Just like your favorite sci-fi novel will often be adorned with outdated fonts, blinding color schemes, multi-headed monsters and embarrassingly scantily-clad space-vixens, you’ll similarly rarely find a subtle romance cover. No tasteful muted t...

ampaign challenge! Shadows crept across the wall. Devran picked up her quill and twirled it. "I was banished to Smyrna." "Smyrna!" "Yes." Orange ink splattered onto his knee. "I was there last autumn." The quill came close to her dress. "So that's how you knew everyone at my father's funeral." She pushed his hand aside and the quill fell on the sand. "I wasn't long in Smyrna. My mother took ill and -" "You said it'd been years since she'd passed away. Or was that a lie?" "I was not lying, Ayten," he said, rising. The sunset behind cast his body into shadow. "I don't tell falsehoods or embellish my words. That would be the task of a poet." He tossed the quill beside her. "Tell me the story then, and we'll see what poetry comes of it. A young girl, lost in the city. The spoilt son of the Grand Vizier, who takes advantage of her innocence -" "Be ca...

ow that I've signed up for the campaign challenges, I'll miss my Sunday ROW80 updates this week and later on in March, as I'll be posting Monday. Wish me luck with the first challenge! So here's a quick update: I've gotten a few more scenes under my belt, and a little more research reading - which reminds me: If you were sailing from Constantinople all the way to Spain, in 1493 , and had left rather in a hurry, what sorts of items would you need in your cabin ? Items you might purchase in an Athens market. Candles? Extra clothing? A knife? A lantern? Something else? I've also been agonizing over this month's Writers' Exercise on the Forum . Something about writing a metaphorical bedroom scene... Meanwhile, though, I'm closer to finding an exact image of Magdalena , Rosa's mother. The timeline goes like this - Santiago and Magdalena meet in London in the 1470s. Their only child is Rosa , who goes on to marry Baha , as told in Out of the W...

ag! I'm it! Thanks to Kaylie  for posing these interesting questions: 1) What is your most embarrassing moment? Aha, you think I'm going to reveal that here ? I'll think of another one though... there might be something book related... ah yes. I'm a rather bad (read: terrified) public speaker. My brain pulls a Homer Simpson , and disappears. So one day, in eighth grade, I had to do a book review, in front of the class. I'd been warned that we'd lose marks for reading, so I tried not to look down at my notes and instead, out of sheer nervousness, went off on a rant about the author. Caught sight of my teacher's open-mouthed expression and promptly shut up. Afterwards, one of my classmates said, "I could see your knees shaking." Yes, thank you. I was aware. 2) If you had to play a sport as a career, which one would it be? Good question! Something historical, like archery or swordfighting. I think I could do darts and archery rather well, b...