I Know I Should Be Flattered, But…

It’s come to my attention that readers really like series. I mean, they really, really like series. I guess in a way I knew that, but I’ve never been much of one for series, so I didn’t pay it that much attention. I’ve received emails that Try a Little Tenderness is nothing like Rock Star. I’m sure they’re right. I wasn’t trying to write another Rock Star. This new book is a departure from Rock Star, and my next book will be a departure from Try a Little Tenderness. Goddess willing all my books will be different from one another. The only common thread I intend to have in my books is that they’re good stories well told.

I had always planned a sequel to Rock Star, tentatively entitled Dark Star. Those of you who have read Try a Little Tenderness, have met the hero of the next book, Nate Randolph. He’s Tonya’s long-lost love. It’s an adventure story too, involving kidnapping and a quest to find a really nasty terrorist facilitator known as The Rooster. Callie and Bryan will have a role, but none of the other members of the band are likely to appear. 

I had not really planned to visit Storm Crow again primarily because I felt I’d told that story and didn’t have much else to say. Recently, however, an idea came to me that I think will be an interesting story. It’s called Supernova, and features a heroine who’s the lead singer of insanely popular group who crashes and burns through drugs and excess. She hooks up with Storm Crow, and especially Thad in an effort to get her career back. 

Both of these stories are very much in the planning stages. I’ve written some scenes for Dark Star, but nothing concrete on Supernova. At some point I’ll be pitching both of them to my publisher. We’ll see from there how far it goes. 

The next books you’ll see coming out from me are Pussycat Death Squad and Flyboy. Flyboy will be published by Parker Publishing as part of their anthology What White Boys Fight for. I really like this story of a very crunchy bakery owner and the helicopter pilot who wins her heart. Pussycat is another adventure story featuring a heroine who is the leader of the all-female bodyguards for a North African leader. Those of you who like heroines of the kick-ass variety will really enjoy this book. 

In a glance you can see that I have lots of ideas. I can’t say that I have a common theme. Ideas come to me far more quickly than I can write them. (This is one of the reasons I don’t think I’ll be doing many series. I don’t see the point of revisiting old characters when I’ve got dozens of new characters dancing in my head.) I like to write about different kinds of people in unique situations. I suspect that some of my characters will be more popular than others. I have to be okay with that because I can’t seem to change them. They come to me more or less fully formed. For instance, in Pussycat, Lelia came to me as a Muslim woman. I decided that it would make a short novella much too complicated and decided to change it. I suspect that before it’s over and done with I’ll have to change her back. Lola was a stripper when I first envisioned the character. I probably spent months trying to turn her into a showgirl (I ADORE showgirls!!), but that’s not who she is. Even though many people find strippers distasteful it was an essential part of who she is, and the story would have no conflict if she wasn’t a stripper. 

Writing is too hard to create characters and stories I don’t believe in or don’t want to tell. I have to do this thing my way with the kinds of people I want to talk about. That’s the only way I know how to do it. I hope my fans will understand and support me on this journey.