Pitch Black (29 page)
Susan’s novels have garnered numerous awards. She is a three-time RITA award finalist and winner. PITCH BLACK is her seventh novel. She lives in her native Indiana hometown with her husband and a menagerie of critters.
Visit her on the Web:
www.susancrandall.net
Contact: P.O. Box 1092, Noblesville, IN 46061
THE DISH
Where authors give you the inside scoop!
From the desk of Susan Crandall
Dear Reader,
I’d like to share with you a little secret. It’s one of those crazy writer things—you know, like making sure you have the right music playing, or just the right scented candle burning, or spinning around in a circle three times before you sit down to write. The kind of thing you simply cannot write without.
Superstitious, you say? Perhaps. A mind game? A crutch? Maybe. Doesn’t really matter. As writers, we believe. And when your entire product comes out of your mind, you have to believe.
During those last grueling weeks before a book deadline, I indulge in a special writing snack. This snack is something I like to eat in mass quantities. Something I wouldn’t normally allow myself to consume in such ridiculous amounts. But after seven novels, it’s become obvious that the writing snack is integral in the process, necessary in order to properly tie off all of the plot threads, to make certain the villain gets his due, and the good guys get their happy endings.
And yes, I do require a serious diet and exercise program when all is said and done. But I do it for you, my dear reader. So the story is satisfying. So when you read that last page, you’re glad you opened the first.
Like all of my books, PITCH BLACK (on sale now) had its very own writing snack. This novel is my first romantic suspense, so the choice was critical. I lost count of the number of boxes of Cheese Nips I went through as I wrote this story about a single-mother journalist whose adoptive son is the main suspect in a brutal crime.
Who knew romantic suspense required even more snacking than women’s fiction? At the rare moment when I didn’t have a backup box, I panicked. Luckily, I live close to the store.
I’d like to invite you to visit my Web site,
www.susancrandall.net
, to see the snack that accompanied each book. I have them listed on each book’s description page.
While you’re there, you can read an excerpt of my upcoming novel of romantic suspense, SEEING RED, which is slated for release in early 2009. Also, please stop by my message board and say hello. I always love hearing from readers, and it’s a good place to connect with other book lovers.
Enjoy!
From the desk of Jane Graves
Dear Reader,
Did you know that over three hundred weddings are performed in Las Vegas every day? I learned that while researching my latest book, TALL TALES AND WEDDING VEILS (on sale now). So why is Sin City such a popular place to tie the knot?
Top Five Reasons to Get Married in Vegas
1. You’ve always loved Elvis, so having him perform your wedding ceremony is a dream come true, even if the Vegas version is fat and fifty and can’t carry a tune in a bucket.
2. You figure marriage is a gamble anyway, so thematically speaking, it works.
3. It’s between that and a New Orleans graveyard wedding performed by a voodoo priestess. The graveyard has spirits, but Vegas has martinis.
4. You can’t resist the Austin Powers “1967 Summer of Love Groovy Baby Love Scene Wedding Package.”
5. A woman you’ve just met helps you win a big jackpot, and after a champagne-soaked celebration in a stretch limousine, heading for a drive-through wedding chapel suddenly seems like a
fabulous
idea.
Now, how about that annulment?
Okay, that’s not quite as easy. At least it isn’t for Tony McCaffrey and Heather Montgomery, the hero and heroine, who spend the first morning of their married lives wondering how fast they can get
un
married.
When they made the drunken decision to marry in haste, they overlooked an obvious truth: No two people on earth were more incompatible. Tony’s a handsome, sexy charmer who spends his life surrounded by women, and Heather’s a serious-minded plain Jane whose idea of a good time is balancing her checkbook. But when an unexpected turn of events forces them to stay married for a month, slowly they begin to see each other in a whole new light. What started out as a drunken mistake just might turn out to be the best decision of their lives.
Hope you enjoy TALL TALES AND WEDDING VEILS!
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