I’m getting closer to getting NIGHTFALL ready to publish. Today, I thought I’d post the first scene for anyone who wants to try it out on this lazy Sunday.

Chapter 1

Aiden  Afflack hummed to himself as he lifted the brass doorknocker to summon St. Cloud Police Chief Weldon Michaels to the front door of his Carrington Place residence. Rapping twice, he stepped back.

What was that tune running through his head? It had been with him since he’d risen this evening.

Audioslave? Nope.

Queens of the Stone Age? Un-uh.

Collective Soul? Yeah. Yeah, that was it. Definitely. He cricked his neck one way, then the other and felt the satisfying crack. Ooh, I’m feeling better now.

The curtain in the bay window twitched, but Aiden feigned obliviousness. From inside, he clearly heard Michaels jam a clip into a pistol. Aiden rolled his eyes. Nobody trusted anyone anymore.

“Who are you and what do you want?”

The voice came through the door. A very cautious man indeed.

“I’m a friend of your wife’s,” Aiden called. “Well, more a friend of a friend, actually, but I have a personal message for you, from her.”

“Nice try. Now move on, before I call the cops.”

Aiden thought about knocking the door in. It was solid oak with a good deadbolt on it, but it could have been made from cardboard and paperclips for all the challenge it would present. On the other hand, there was no reason to get messy.

He cleared his throat, did his best to summon a puzzled tone. “Well, hell, I thought you were the cops. Do I have the wrong address? I’m looking for Chief Weldon Michaels. Got a message for him from his wife Lucy. Pretty woman, ’bout an inch over five feet, brown hair and eyes? Oh, and a real cute little daughter. What’s her name? Devon? Any of this sounding familiar?”

Silence for a few heartbeats. “What kind of message?”

“She wants to come home, but before she can see her way clear to doing that, we need to have ourselves a talk.”

Another pause, then the sound of the deadbolt retracting. The door cracked open, and Weldon Michaels peered out past a security chain.

God save me from fools. Aiden pushed the door open. The hardware anchoring the security chain tore free from the wall. Before Michaels could cry out, Aiden stepped inside and closed the door behind him. In the next heartbeat, he seized Michaels’ right wrist and squeezed until the other man screamed and dropped the pistol he held. It hit the hardwood floor with a clatter but didn’t discharge.

“A gun?” Aiden released the other man’s hand. “Now I ask you, what kind of a greeting is that?”

Michaels — clearly a slow learner — reached for a second weapon jammed into the waistband at the small of his back. Before he could get to it, Aiden had Michaels face down on the floor with his right hand way closer to his right shoulder blade than God ever intended it to go.

“Jesus, my arm. You’re breaking it!”

“Not even close. You develop a feel for these things,” he said conversationally. “It’s sort of like braking when you’re driving on ice. You gotta find the threshold.”

“No, my shoulder! It’s gonna pop! I swear to God!”

Aiden reefed Michaels arm a half inch higher, eliciting a scream, followed by a stream of curses.

“See? Still plenty of play. It’s a feel thing. Now are you gonna behave yourself if I let you up?”

“Yes! I’ll do whatever you say.”

“Atta boy.” Aiden helped the other man to his feet. “Now, let’s go plug the code into the alarm, shall we? And don’t fuck with me. If the alarm company or the cops call in a minute to ask if everything’s okay, things will be very much not okay for you. Understood?”

“Understood.”

Aiden “helped” Michaels to the alarm panel, where he keyed in a five-digit number. The winking red light went out.
“Good man. Now we’re going to need your handcuffs. I know they can’t be far away, since you laid hands on that pistol fast enough. So be a darling and let’s go fetch them.”

Michaels swore again.

“I know, I know. It’s gotta sting, getting cuffed with your own bracelets, but look at it this way: they’ll be a helluva lot more comfortable than the alternative if you force me to improvise.”

Michaels sagged. “In that drawer.”

A minute later, Chief Weldon Michaels sat cuffed in one of his own kitchen chairs, a sturdy-looking oak proposition. Michaels somehow managed to look both scared and pissed at the same time.

Aiden took a seat at the table, placing both guns — one retrieved from beneath the telephone table in the entryway and the other from the small of Michaels’ back — on the gleaming wood surface. “Okay, Weldon — may I call you Weldon? — we need to talk.”

Michaels glared back. “You’re wasting your time. I don’t keep anything of value of here, at least nothing portable enough to carry off. And damn you, you’ve already scored both my guns. I suggest you just let yourself out and get while the getting’s good.”

“You think I was bullshitting earlier, don’t you? You think I was feeding you a line about your wife to get inside?” Aiden leaned back in his chair and kicked his feet up to rest on the table. “That’s rich.”

Fear flashed in the other man’s eyes, which he quickly attempted to hide with bravado. “Look, mister, if you have a message for me, let’s get on with it.”

“Afflack.”

“What’s that?”

“If you’re gonna call me mister, you might as well make it Mr. Afflack. Or Aiden, if you prefer.”

Another flash of fear. Aiden could almost hear the wheels turning in Michaels’ head. He’s shown me his face, given me his name. There can only be one reason for that….

“Not to worry, Weldy. I think I’ll call you Weldy.”

Michaels tensed. Testing the cuffs and the strength of the chair’s spindles, no doubt.

Aiden sighed. “For Chrissakes, I’m not planning to kill you. I’m just going to spend the night here chatting, much like we are right now.”

Michaels blinked. “Spend the night?”

“Forgive me. It’s probably horribly uncomfortable with those cuffs on. Let me just deal with these nasty guns. Then I’ll take the bracelets off so we can talk all civilized-like.”

Aiden picked up the SIG 9mm with his left hand, grasped the barrel with his right. Closing his eyes, he slid his hand up and down the barrel a few times to attune his mind to the metal. Then he bent it effortlessly.

“Jesus Christ!”

 Aiden placed the ruined pistol back on the table, picked up the .22 and repeated the process on the gun’s short barrel.

“What the … how’d you do that?”

Aiden shrugged. “A parlor trick. You should see what I can do with a dinner fork.” He stood and extracted the handcuff key from the pocket of his worn jeans. “Now, about those cuffs….”

Michaels shrank back.

Aiden lifted his eyebrows. “What? You’d prefer to keep them on after all?”

The other man collected himself, embarrassment staining his cheeks. “Of course not. Please remove them.”

Aiden obliged.

As soon as his hands were free, Michaels immediately started massaging his sore right shoulder.

“Ah, yes, the shoulder. Sorry about that.” Aiden gave him his best aw shucks smile. “But I couldn’t have you putting bullet holes in me, could I?”

Michaels said nothing, but the stiffness in his face spoke volumes. Good. Get brave, you miserable little wife-beating worm. Get angry. Give me a reason to hurt you again.

Michaels cleared his throat. “So, this message from my wife?”

“She wants to come back to St. Cloud. In fact, she’d like to move back into this very house, seeing as she put so much sweat equity into it.” Aiden glanced around at the tastefully appointed kitchen. “I must say she did a great job.”

“Of course she can come home. That’s all I’ve wanted since she left.”

“Ah, but there’s a catch, Weldy. You can’t stay.”

Michaels made a choking sound, but quickly found his voice. “She thinks I’m just going to clear out of town?”

“That would be ideal, but no, I don’t think she expects that. It will be sufficient if you leave this house and never darken the door again.”

Michaels started to bluster that he owned the goddamned place and no one could put him out of it, yadda, yadda, yadda.

“Save it,” Aiden commanded. “You see, I know what you did to her, Weldy.”

A pause. “I don’t know what she told you, but—”

“You systematically isolated her from her friends and pressured her into quitting work. Then, when you got her where you wanted her, you escalated the abuse. You terrorized her, Weldy. You threatened the life of her child if she tried to leave you. Is any of this sounding familiar? No? Well how about this: you used your position and power to convince her that escape was impossible.”

Michaels leapt up, his face wreathed in fury. “You don’t know the first fucking thing about my family.”

Aiden swung his feet to the floor, but remained in his chair. “Oh, I know quite a bit, Chief Michaels. For instance, I know you’ve been abusing the police resources at your fingertips to search for her, ensuring she had to stay on the run, unable to stay anywhere for any length of time. I know she’s terrified for her life and that of her daughter.”

“If she’d just—”

“Shut up, Weldy, and listen. I’m the messenger, and the message is that it’s over. She’s coming back, and you, my friend, are going to become the most obliging, most accommodating, most respectful ex-husband on the face of the planet. Oh, and you’ll relinquish any rights to the child.”

“Fuck you.” Powered by rage, Michaels gripped the table’s edge and overturned it, then bolted for the door.
Grinning, Aiden swept the table away as if it were constructed of matchsticks and gave chase, overtaking his quarry in a blur of speed. By the time Michaels reached the door, Aiden lounged against it, the picture of indolence.

“Jesus!” Michaels’ face suddenly looked like it was stretched too tightly across the underlying bones. Shock did that to some people. With others, their faces went slack, as though—  

“Who are you?” Michaels rasped. “Dear God, what are you?”

Aiden allowed his smile to spread, noting the precise moment when Michaels caught the first glimpse of his grossly elongated cuspids. This time, Michaels’ face slackened.

“I’m glad you asked.”

# # #

So, whaddya think? Would you read on?

So, I’m not the most tech savvy blogger/author/writer person you ever met, but I do like a cool widget. Here’s one I nabbed from Amazon.com. If I’ve done this properly, you should be able to see all my books below on a carousel!

Okay, they’re not all MY books. Several are collaborations with my writing partner, Heather Doherty. Those would be the very kick-ass YAs, THE SUMMONING and ASHLYN’S RADIO.

So, just push an arrow and watch the carousel turn. Wheeee!

Also, if I’ve done this right, if you hover your mouse over the book, it’ll show you how many reviews the book has and what the average star rating is. And if you  click on a book, it’ll take you to Amazon where you can BUY it!

So, what do you think? Is this not nine levels of AWESOME?

August marks the anniversary of my decision to start self-publishing. I entered the fray with LAUREN’S EYES, a book which had been previously published in mass market and to which I had reacquired the rights. I added three romantic suspense novels in August and began promoting all four books. More titles followed through the course of the year, and I now have nine books available (two of which are YA paranormals co-written with literary author Heather Doherty).

This month, as I celebrate a year of self-publishing, I thought I’d take my cue from some of my fellow indie authors and share some sales information. My hope is that those of you who are new to self-publishing with perhaps one or two books up and who aren’t yet seeing strong sales, will take heart. It does take patience and experimentation. It also helps to have a series. And naturally, the more books you have out, the better. As you’ll see below, many books making modest sales can generate a nice income.

Okay, let’s get to it.

I know many indie authors have taken off like rockets on Amazon. I have to say that my trajectory was less dramatic. Nevertheless, I am very pleased with the upward trend. Here are the raw numbers:

My sales through Smashwords and its distributors (Apple, B&N, Kobo, Sony and Diesel) were significantly more for the period, but those dollars are harder to neatly separate into monthly earnings. Payment is made quarterly, and the reporting from distributors lags several months behind, making it hard to draw accurate comparisons with Amazon’s real time reporting. Also, I had Smashwords hang onto my money until I could get an ITIN number from the IRS to establish my tax treaty rights, the result being that most of my earnings for this past year were paid to me recently in one lump sum. Since I don’t have the data to make a nice chart showing the gradual growth in sales, I’ll just speak generally about my Smashwords experience.

Bearing in mind the lag in sales reporting I mentioned, I am showing sales of 7,920 paid units through Smashwords and its distributors. (Total downloads were actually 45,626 units, but 37,706 of those ‘sales’ were unpaid units. The vast majority of those freebies were downloads of a free novella designed to stimulate interest in my Serve and Protect romantic suspense series.)

Contrast those 7,920 units with the 2,083 units sold at Amazon, and you can extrapolate from there, throwing in a little extra for the sales not yet reported. Not a bad year. And – woot! – I just surpassed the 10K mark!

Obviously, in retrospect, my decision to jump into self-publishing could not have been better timed. The Amazon monthly sales chart really tells the tale. The Christmas 2010 rush on electronic reading devices translated into a sharp increase in sales in early 2011. No doubt the addition of more titles to my catalogue contributed to ongoing growth. It also doesn’t hurt that many of my books are romance, which sells well. Nor does it hurt that I’ve spent more than a dozen years honing my craft and have worked hard to try to get my self-published titles noticed.

That said, I’ll be the first person to admit that luck has a lot to do with it. I’ll also be the first person to say that I know countless indie authors whose book sales totally dwarf mine. But if I’ve learned anything, it’s that no two authors’ journeys are the same, and I am very grateful and happy with my own lot.

I hope the sales data I’ve shared today will help motivate other authors in the indie trenches who are still struggling. Hang in there and keep plugging away. Be patient. Don’t despair. This is not like traditional publishing; you’re in it for the long haul now. Keep writing and adding to your catalogue. Put forth the best product you possibly can, with a high quality, professional cover. Then do it again. And if after a sufficient length of time has passed, sales still aren’t growing, try changing something up. Tweak your product description or how your book is categorized. Experiment with prices. Try a new cover. For once, all the controls are in your hands. Use them! And good luck.

I’m very excited to have urban fantasy author Shéa MacLeod with me today. Why am I so excited? Because as you’ll soon see, she is made of sheer awesomeness.

Thanks, Norah!  I’ve always wanted to be made of sheer awesomeness. 😉

Okay, Shéa, since I know you’re a bit of a sci-fi nerd, if you were a character in any sci-fi show, who would you be?

Aeryn Rand from Farscape.  She was such a strong character, full of depth.  She went from this tough warrior woman, blindly following orders and seemingly immune to emotion, to someone who loved deeply and protected those she loved.  Not only did that girl kick some serious ass, she also got to snog the delicious John Crichton.  And who wouldn’t want to do that? 

Who indeed! What got you started writing?

Reading.  My mom started reading to me pretty much in the womb.  Some of my earliest memories involve books and reading and trips to the library.  I loved the wonderful worlds that existed between the pages of books and longed to create my own.  I was always a story teller, even before I could write.  And I don’t think there’s ever been a time when I didn’t want to write novels.  It just took me awhile to believe I could actually do it.

You’ve got a brand new book out, right? Tell us about it.

Yes!  It’s an urban fantasy: Kissed by Darkness, Book One of the Sunwalker Saga.

I loved Buffy the Vampire Slayer and thought it would be cool to have a more adult story that involved a private detective agency that investigated the paranormal.  That sort of rattled around in my brain for years before morphing into something resembling an actual story.  And with the morphing Morgan Bailey was born.

Morgan isn’t the kind of character to sit quietly on a shelf, so her story came a bit fast and furious.  It’s the story of a woman who once had a normal life, but now must face her demons.  Literally.  And she does it with a grin and a snarky comment.  Or two.

A girl after my own heart! How many other books do you have planned in the Sunwalker Saga?

There are six total books in the series (book 2 is finished and I’m writing 3 as we speak).  Each one is key both to Morgan’s continuing development as a person, as well as the progression of the overall story arch which involves dragons, djinn, the sidhe and a lot more magic and mayhem. 

Okay, I’m always fascinated to know how authors view their own characters. So let’s say someone is making a movie from Kissed by Darkness and you get to cast it. Who would you cast as your kick-ass heroine? Other main roles? And would a casting couch be required? 

Oh, a casting couch is most DEFINITELY required!

There are four main characters in Kissed by Darkness who remain integral throughout the series.  First is our MC, Morgan Bailey.  Played by me. 

Kidding!  She’s actually the toughest one because I’ve never really come across an actress I thought would suit her to a “T”.  Maybe Deborah Ann Woll from True Blood, but she’d have to put on about 20 pounds. 🙂 

I’ve always seen Morgan’s best friend, Kabita Jones played by Claudia Black (the aforementioned Aeryn Sun).  Very strong, very striking, a little exotic.  Plus Claudia is a pretty versatile actress.

Inigo Jones was originally inspired by the Kyle Schmid from Blood Ties.  Someone cute, sweet, and just a tad geeky, but underneath pure steel.

Then there’s the Sunwalker, Jackson Keel, 900 year old Templar Knight.  And who else to play such a delectable role than the gorgeous Gerard Butler! (Hence the need for a casting couch.)

Now there’s a movie I want to see! [Hear that, Hollywood? That was Kissed by Darkness.]

If you were to Twitter this book in 140 characters, what would you say?

You’re getting blood on my carpet.  Again.

OMG, I love it! And how perfect.

Any other irons in the fire besides the Sunwalker books?

Yes!  I have two current WIPs.  The first is a post-apocalyptic paranormal romance with dragons.  (Everything is better with dragons.)  The second is a post-apocalyptic urban fantasy scifi paranormal romance with a twist of steampunk set in what was once China.  Oh, yeah, there are aliens.  (Everything’s better with aliens.)

Favorite kind of read? Favorite author?

Hooo-boy!  That’s a tough one because I’m pretty eclectic.  I guess my all-time fave is probably apocalyptic or post-apocalyptic stories.  I don’t know what it is about them I like so much.  Maybe the whole idea of starting over fresh, or maybe it’s the struggle for survival and the drive to rebuild.  Think Stephen King’s The Stand, Justin Cronin’s The Passage, Ann Aguirre’s Enclave or Joss Ware’s Envy Chronicles.  Next (and very close) are urban fantasy, paranormal romance, scifi romance, and steampunk romance.  They’re just so much fun!  Think Nalini Singh (any of her books), Ann Aguirre’s Jax series, Gail Carriger.  Of course we mustn’t forget the wonder triplets: zombies, thrillers and mysteries.  For mysteries, Janet Evanovich’s Stephanie Plum series is an auto buy.  An old fave: Agatha Christie.  And my new fave: N.L. Wilson!   For zombies there’s Jack Wallen and Jesse Petersen. Thrillers: James Rollins (I’m a major fangirl.), Chris Kuzneski.

Told ya I was eclectic. 

What was the best piece of writing advice you got along the way?

Probably this quote from Stephen King: 

‘If you don’t have time to read, you don’t have the time (or the tools) to write. Simple as that.’

What was the last movie you saw?

Believe it or not, The Sorcerer’s Apprentice.  What can I say?  It was on cable.  But it was kind of a fun movie.  🙂 

Cats or dogs?

Dogs.  I like cats, but I’m allergic.  And there’s just something about a dog.  Something so loving and dopey and ridiculously loyal.  We could all learn a lot from a dog. Besides, they can be trained to carry barrels of alcohol around their necks.  How cool is that?

Sam or Dean? (And if you don’t know what I’m talking about, I may have to pare back the 100% awesomeness tag to maybe 98%.)

Dean.  I mean, HELLO!  There IS no other answer.  (Also, excuse me for a moment.  I need to go wipe the drool off my face.)

A fellow-Dean girl! Okay, you might be 110% awesomeness. Any last words for readers?

I just want to say thanks to all the readers out there.  Reading is such a magical and exciting thing.  Without our readers, there wouldn’t be much point in writing.  Stories are meant to be shared. 

Thank you, Shéa, for that very fun interview!

Now, go buy Shéa’s book! It just as awesome as she is.

Today’s six sentences are taken from my newly published vampire romance, THE MERZETTI EFFECT. My hero, Dr. Delano Bowen, needs to keep Ainsley Crawford (who has been attacked by a vampire) under his care to give him a legitimate reason for drawing her blood, which he believes holds the cure for vampirism. Since there is too much on the line to leave anything to chance, he manipulates her unwitting cooperation:

He cursed himself, but didn’t let up. “Do you see what I’m saying, Ms. Crawford? They can’t help you. Worst-case scenario, they will literally kill you with their ignorance. Best-case scenario, you turn out not to have been infected with the vampirism virus and will eventually be released, albeit permanently stigmatized by your mental illness.”

She didn’t nod or otherwise signal comprehension, but the spreading bleakness in her eyes was all the confirmation he needed.

Versatile? (Looks over shoulder; sees no one behind me.) Me? Do you think so? Do you really think so?

Well, apparently one person does, to wit, the very cool and talented Shéa MacLeod. And who am I to quibble? <g>

Yes, Shéa has touched me with the Versatile Blogger Award stick. And you know what that means. Well, okay, you probably don’t. Here are the rules:

Okay, Part 1, thank you, Shéa! You are a darling.

Part 2, here are seven things about me:

1) I can’t leave the house without making the bed. I can leave dishes on the counter, jackets draped on chairs, shoes in a pile by the door, dust bunnies firmly entrenched in their protected habitats. But God help me, I have to make the bed. What does that say about me?

2) I’m a little compulsive and am easily spellbound by simple, repetitive tasks. If I get started weeding my flower beds, I’d better have all day, because the weeds – they … all … must … come … out. Of course, I wind up being sore for three days, but my gardens look good.

3) I have a weird aversion to the name Betty. I’ve known some very lovely Bettys, and the name does not have any awful-Betty associations, but nevertheless, never will a character in one of my books be named Betty.

4) I am learning not to be such a grudge-holder. My policy has always been to take everyone pretty much at face value, giving them the benefit of a doubt – until they demonstrate that I can’t. And then I can hold a grudge for a very, very long time. As in, forever. Slowly getting past that. Life is too short to harbor animosity for any length of time. Plus it tends to crowd out the good stuff.

5) I’m starting to wonder if I’ll keep watching Castle next year. This disturbs me deeply. I love(d?) that show. We’ll see what next year brings.

6) When I meditate, I see a really deep, rich amythst color. Huh.

7) Recording artist I would most love to meet: Everlast, aka Erik Shrody, aka Whitey Ford. He fascinates the hell out of me and writes the best songs. (“What it’s Like” will always be one of my favs.)

Okay, moving on to Part 3, wherein I tag some other bloggers with the Versatile Blogger Award. Shéa definitely deserves to be on this list, but I don’t think it’s good etiquette to tag back… So without further ado, here are my selections:

Bonnie Vanak

MJ Fredrick

Esri Allbritten

Theresa Ragan

Les Floyd (Shéa already tagged him, so I don’t expect him to repeat the feat, but I wanted to mention him. His blog is awesome.)

My very distinguished guest today is MIKE ANGLEY, award-winning author of the Child Finder Trilogy.  He retired from the Air Force in 2007 following a 25-year career as a Special Agent with the Office of Special Investigations (OSI). He writes thrillers with a paranormal twist.  His protagonist is a man whose deep faith guides him through his page-turning perils.  The Child Finder Trilogy is a hot thriller series with a light, somewhat edgy spiritual theme…in other words, not your typical Christian fiction.  However, this series will have appeal for fans of that genre, as well as suspense and thriller enthusiasts.  

NORAH: Welcome, Mike. I’m thrilled to have you here. I’m going to start off with the question writers always ask one another: When did you know you wanted to be a writer?

MIKE: I’ve always had that writer bug burning in my heart. Even as a young boy I would write short stories and poetry, but my attempt at becoming the next E. E. (or is it e e?) Cummings never got off the ground. I did enjoy writing short stories during high school for my literature classes, and I dabbled in poetry some more, but that was mostly to impress girls!

NORAH: Smart! But now you’ve graduated to novels. How long does it typically take you to write one? And how do you approach it? What’s your work schedule like when you’re writing?

MIKE: That varies. My first book, Child Finder, took many years because I had drafted it while I was still in the U.S. Air Force, but my work schedule kept me from doing any serious editing. My second and third novels (written in my retirement) took about a year each. I begin with knowing the general plot I want to craft, and then I outline it into major scenes. I use the outline as a guide as I begin what I call, “throwing paint on the canvas.” I will toss out words as fast as I can write them with no particular worry about how pretty they look. Once I have a rough draft, I go back and clean it up. My editing focuses first on substantive content (did I capture the outline correctly in my chapters?), and then on style (making the word, phrases, sentences pretty). My schedule varies quite a bit. I write part time, so as my regular work permits it, I try to dedicate an hour or two a day to writing.

NORAH: How many books have you written? How many have you published? Which is your favorite?

MIKE: I’ve written the full Child Finder Trilogy, but only the first two are published. Child Finder, the first in the series, came out in June 2009, followed by Child Finder: Resurrection, in the fall of 2010. Child Finder: Revelation is due out November 1, 2011. I am very excited about the release. I’m on a three-book contract with an independent publisher called TotalRecall Publications, Inc..

While I love them all, I am somewhat partial to the last one, Revelation. I learned a lot along the way, and I think my writing matured with it. Besides, Revelation has a mind-blowing conclusion, I like to say. After all, why would a senior Department of Defense official call it, “The most dangerous book ever written!”?

NORAH: Okay, I’m sufficiently intrigued. What is Revelation about?

MIKE: North Korean terrorists stage a brazen attack on the U.S. Ambassador to South Korea, stealing his twin daughters in the assault. Only one man can rescue them: Air Force Special Agent Patrick O’Donnell.

But there’s more. There’s a mystery about the twins that has the President of the United States and the Pope rattled, and no one will tell O’Donnell what that is. One thing is made clear to him in abundance: he must rescue the girls and bring them back to America with an urgency he has never experienced before.

Will Agent O’Donnell be successful in rescuing the Ambassador’s daughters? Will he be able to unravel the intrigue between the Oval Office and the Vatican? Perhaps O’Donnell will receive a revelation that will explain it all…and if he does, it may be something he wishes he never knew.

NORAH: Oh, wow! Now that’s a blockbuster plot! Which leads me nicely to my next question: Where do your ideas come from?

MIKE: Much of my inspiration comes from my Air Force career as a Special Agent with the Air Force Office of Special Investigations (OSI – the USAF equivalent to NCIS). I spent 25+ years chasing criminals, spies and terrorists around the world, so I decided to create a thriller series about a young OSI Special Agent who discovers he has a psychic ability to find missing children. It was one of those daydreams I had during my career – the idea that life would be a lot fairer if we had someone with such abilities to help us find children. Since I enjoy the thriller genre, I needed to insert some intrigue, danger, derring-do in the stories to twist and pull my protagonist along the way.

NORAH: Speaking of careers, your biography says that during your time at Air Force Space Command you were responsible for counterintelligence programs involving space, overseeing “entering or exiting Earth’s atmosphere.” Can you elaborate on that?

MIKE: Nope.

NORAH: LOL! Okay, shoulda seen that coming. Next question: Do you hear from your readers much? And what kinds of things do they say?

MIKE: I do get some fan mail and email, and most tell me they find my stories inspiring (I like that). Many also ask if I have my own psychic abilities (Sadly, no. If I did, I wouldn’t get into nearly as much trouble with my wife as I do). A few want to know if I’ve revealed any real government secrets in my books (Of course not!).

NORAH: What do you think makes a good story?

MIKE: I like creating compelling characters that drive my stories. My protagonist is a man of deep faith and strong moral and family values. These all become challenged throughout the series as he faces life and death decisions. Patrick O’Donnell is a caring, loving man on one hand, and a tough Jack Bauer-like federal law enforcement agent on the other. Sometimes making those switches can be tough for him. The other main characters – even the bad ones – are multi-dimensional. The “bad guys” are REALLY bad, and it’s this wickedness that creates such a reverse polarity with Patrick.

NORAH: Which of your own characters would you most like to invite to dinner, and why?

MIKE: I’d invite Patrick O’Donnell and his family over. They come as a package in my stories, and each plays a part in the plots. He’s got a beautiful wife and two great kids, each with their own unique, endearing qualities.

NORAH: Great answer! Okay, which of your characters would you least want to dine with?

MIKE: The antagonists. Each story has its own nasty characters (no recurring nemeses for me), and because there are a few surprises in my stories, I don’t want to say much more. In my third book, the main antagonist is apparent as the plot unfolds early on, so I don’t mind mentioning him here. That would be Kim, Jong-il, North Korea’s “Dear Leader.” But what he’s up to and why is the mystery in the story…that part will just have to wait for people to read it!

NORAH: What have you learned in your journey to publication that most surprised you?

MIKE: How hard the business end of writing can be. By this, I mean the process of landing a contract to doing publicity to managing marketing. I enjoy the craft end of writing much more, but I learned early on that the business aspects of getting published are so important.

NORAH: Did you have any mentors who helped you along the way?

MIKE: I have more USAF career mentors than I’ve had writing mentors (James Patterson, if you are reading this, call me!). My mentors’ voices have helped me shape my stories, and I even patterned my protagonist’s fictional mentor (Colonel John Helmsley) as a composite of some of the best bosses I’ve had in my career.

NORAH: Who are some of your favorite authors?

MIKE: Did I mention James Patterson? Oh, and there’s also Clive Cussler, Tom Clancy, Joel Rosenberg, among many.

NORAH: What’s the last book you read? The last movie you went to see?

MIKE: Patterson’s Don’t Blink. And what I enjoyed the most was his choice of an unconventional protagonist (a journalist). The last movie I saw was Rango with my wife and daughter. It’s an excellent animated western with lots of critters for characters.

NORAH: What do you like to do when you’re not writing?

MIKE: I serve as the Senior Military Advisor for Henley-Putnam University in San Jose, CA. That work keeps me busy (with a fair amount of traveling). In my real downtime, I like to spend time with family. Lately we’ve been enjoying some of the Denver, CO sports events (Avalanche and Rockies games).

NORAH: Any last messages for readers?

MIKE: Please visit my website for more information about me and my writing. I had a fun – if not esoteric – career, so please check out my biography. Of course, when my third book comes out, read it to find out why some in the DoD are a bit apoplectic over it! www.mikeangley.com.

NORAH: Oh, my, you do know how to deploy a hook, don’t you? That was a great one! Thank you, Mike, for being my guest. I’ll be in line with the rest of your readers for book 3.

Today I received my cover for my new vampire romance THE MERZETTI EFFECT! Yay! The book will soon be available on both Amazon and Smashwords, and eventually B & N, Sony, Kobo, Apple iBook store, etc., but I couldn’t wait a few days to share!  What do you think?

My guest today is Alice Duncan. One of the very best things about having published with Dorchester Publishing was meeting a passel of fellow authors on the “Lollie” loop (Lollie being a take on Ladies of Leisure, Leisure being one of Dorchester’s imprints. I was actually pubbed by the Love Spell imprint, but I think I’m still a Lollie…). Anyhoo, seven of us seemed to have a lot in common, so we wandered off and created a little sub-community of our own. Alice is an integral member of that community. She’s also a birthday sister (we’re both Sagittarians, born on November 29), a fellow dog-lover, and a helluva writer. Welcome, Alice.

ALICE: Thanks, Norah! Happy to be here. And (ahem) believe it or not, it was I who suggested we call ourselves the Lollies. Not that I want any credit or anything <g>. Anyhow, it was another Alice (Alice Gaines/Chambers) who started the loop in the first place.

NORAH:  We also have another unusual connection, don’t we, Alice?

ALICE: We certainly do! I live in Roswell, New Mexico, home of the aliens from the 1947 flying saucer crash. You, on the other hand, live in Fredericton, NB, home to Dr. Stanton Friedman, Nuclear Physicist and UFOologist, the original civilian investigator of the Roswell Incident (I didn’t know that until Norah told me, by the way). Not that I have any interest in UFOs or aliens, but living in Roswell is cheaper than living in Pasadena, California, where I’m from. Roswell’s also ugly and boring, but you can’t have everything.

NORAH:  Alice is my hero in so many ways. She is such a champion of animal rights. And she backs it up. Alice fosters Dachshunds. That’s right, wiener dogs. She belongs to the New Mexico Dachshund Rescue League, and at any given time, has as many as seven of the little beasties in her care and control.

 ALICE: Aw, thanks, Norah. Yes, it’s true. I attract dachshunds kind of like a magnet attracts steel shavings. It’s a curse. Or a gift. I haven’t decided which. Let me tell you, walking three or four dogs at a time can be really tricky, too, although the dogs need the exercise, so I do it. Slave to duty, that’s me. But truly, some of the stories of the dogs we get are truly horrifying (I’m fostering a wiener who came to us because of a murder/suicide, for instance). But we at NMDR get all our dogs shot and spayed or neutered and try to find them wonderful homes. I’m talking rabies shots, by the way. Heck, the last dog I fostered went to such a nice home, I was tempted to ask his adopter to adopt me, but I restrained myself. At the moment I’m caring for six wiener dogs and a ringer (part Chihuahua, part miniature pinscher). Sigh.

NORAH:  Okay, enough with the love-in. I’ve asked Alice here today because I want to bring to your attention the fact that she has a freakin’ amazing backlist of terrific romance and mystery titles. They were a steal at $2.99, but Alice has some breaking news.

ALICE: Yes, I do! During the entire month of June, I’m selling every single one of my e-books for 99 cents each! These are full-length novels, folks (well, except for one short story I wrote specifically for Kindle when I got sick of the book I was writing). They’re all historical novels, some mysteries and some romances. 32 of them! Heck, you can get all 32 of them for less than $32! Here’s the Kindle link: http://aliceduncan.net/page5.html and here’s the Smashwords link: https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/aduncanzianet . If you have an e-reading device other than Kindle, use the Smashwords link. Smashwords provides books for NOOK, Sony, Apple, and every other e-reader known to man. Or woman.

NORAH: Did you get that? Every one of her backlist titles for 99 cents! Having read a bunch of Alice’s books, I can assure you this is one of the best deals you’ll ever find. I mean, 32 books for less than $32! I’ve spent more than that on one or two books. If you’re thinking that’s too much to bite off, try one for $0.99 and see what you think. No, these books weren’t written yesterday, but here’s the thing – Alice knows where all the volts are packed. It may be a more leisurely journey than you’re accustomed to with your off-the-rack purchase, but she makes it soooo worth it.

ALICE: Thank you, Norah. It’s not actually my entire backlist. There are two books that have yet to be scanned (a tedious task performed by Norah, bless her heart) and then re-formatted (a tedious task performed by me, who needs all the blessings I can get). Then there are my two “Trailsman” books, written as Jon Sharpe. I don’t own the copyrights to those. And there are also three novellas I might get around to putting in e-book format. Someday. Maybe. And my current books aren’t up there and won’t be until at least a year after their first printing. Still, there are THIRTY-TWO books to choose from! Heck, get ‘em all! Whatta deal!

NORAH: For all my fellow Indie writers and aspiring writers out there, I’ll ask you, Alice, to tell us about your freelance editing/book doctoring service (a service I plan to avail myself of before going to press with my next Dix Dodd Mystery).

ALICE: Indeed, I do have a freelance editing service. I’m also a professional editor and have been for the past six years. However, if you’re interested, you can read all about my service here: http://aliceduncan.net/page2.html. I charge a cent per word, and I must say (although it’s immodest to do so) that I’m pretty good at this editing thing. After all, I’ve had nearly 50 books published, all of which had to be edited, too. Not only that, but I’ve received two (count ‘em) letters from copy editors complimenting me on my books! Mind you, I’ve also had copy editors who tried to change my footpads to foot paths and my pole beans into bean poles. But I won’t do that to anybody. Promise. And I’m also (almost) always happy to negotiate.

NORAH: Holy crow! A cent a word? You’re hired for my paranormal romances too! Can we talk about a birthday sister discount?

ALICE: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Actually, I’ll do pretty much anything for you, Norah. You’ve performed so many kindnesses for me. Honestly, guys, Norah is one of the world’s best people. It’s true.

NORAH:  Aw, thank you, Alice! <Blushing> And thank you, too, for being here and enlivening my blog. Sags rock!

ALICE: How do you pronounce that???? Well, never mind. I know I sag, so that’s not a revelation <g>. Thanks for having me, Norah!

Today I’m visited by Maureen A. Miller, a talented romantic suspense author who is currently killing it as one of the top 50 highest rated Indie authors on Amazon.com.

Maureen, you and I reconnected this year when we both went Indie, but we’d met before. Would you care to tell our readers how we met?

I ‘met’ the beautiful and talented Norah Wilson when we co-finaled in RWA’s Golden Heart awards many years ago. One thing about being a Golden Heart finalist that not many people know about is the camaraderie that goes on amongst the group.

Tell me what finaling in the Golden Heart meant for you.

It was a status to get your foot in the door.  Silhouette’s Intimate Moments line was courting my book, but it was too long of a word count at the time.

WIDOW’S TALE, your first book, helped you land that awesome rating on Amazon. Do you think there’s a resurgence of interest in contemporary Gothics?

That’s an interesting question. I believe today people associate the Gothic romance as more of a “Twilight”, or vampire-series premise. To me the traditional Gothic was anything with a dark, desperate setting.  If there is resurgence, I surely would like to pioneer it!

Tell me a little bit about your decision to go Indie. What factors influenced your decision? And did you ever dream your books would be so successful?

When WIDOW’S TALE made its rounds of word-chopping to meet the requirements of different publishing lines, it was reduced to about the size of a two-word novella.  I felt that the romance was one that I wanted to share in its entirety so I released the original length on Amazon. To my amazement it started climbing up the ranking ladder and has hovered in and out of the top 100 Romantic Suspense list on Amazon for almost two years now.  I never dreamed it would be successful.  I think I might have first published it so that I had a Christmas present ready for my grandmother. 🙂

I see you are also writing for Carina, the epress imprint of romance giant Harlequin. How has that experience compared with your indie publishing efforts?

You can now officially call me a ‘mutt’ because I am both self and traditionally published.  There is a fraternity of self-published authors, where the support system is unlike anything you have experienced. But I was pleasantly surprised to experience the support and enthusiasm of my fellow Carina Press authors as well. One thing I have learned in this industry is that there is a lot of misconception going on. Self-publishing does not mean selfish. It means selfless. Traditional publishing does not mean aristocratic, it means heartening.

Well said, Maureen! Okay, for any fellow-writers in the audience, have you done anything special to get your books (especially the self-published ones) noticed?

I carry around a sign that says, “Will wash your car if you read my book.”

LOL! That should do it! Okay, being serious for a moment, as Indie authors, it’s easy for our books to get lost in the veritable ocean of self-published offerings. Is there another Indie author (or three) you’d like to give a shout-out to, whose books are worth searching for?

That is tough as there are so many talented Indie authors I know and have had the pleasure of reading their books…yourself included!

I enjoy the Red Cross of Gold series from Brendan Carroll.

I am currently reading the suspense novels of Vicky Tyley.

Maria E. Schneider’s mysteries are fun and Debra L. Martin’s science fiction is exciting.

But again, I could go on…

Thank you for being my guest today, Maureen. You’re every bit as charming in cyber-space as you are in … well, I guess I’ve only known you in cyber-space! Maybe we can remedy that in New York next month, at the RWA convention. In the meantime, happy writing!

Thank you, Miss Norah, for having me. You are a gracious hostess!

You can find Maureen on the web at www.maureenamiller.com. Go visit her. And buy her books. They rock.