This week in The Loft: Author Lisabet Sarai!

Joining me today in The Loft is romance author Lisabet Sarai. Lisabet has written plays, tutorials, scholarly articles, marketing brochures, software specifications, self-help books, press releases, a 500-page dissertation, and lots of erotica and erotic romance – more than 100 titles. Her books have covered nearly every sub-genre, including paranormal, science fiction, ménage, BDSM, and GLBT. Regardless of the genre, every one of her stories illustrates her motto--Imagination is the ultimate aphrodisiac. Born in Wisconsin, Lisabet and her husband now reside in Southeast Asia.

Author Lisabet Sarai

S:  Good morning, Lisabet. Thanks for joining me today.

Why write romance? Do you write in other genres?

L:  I didn’t start out writing romance – or at least, I didn’t label it that way. Unlike many romance authors, I didn’t grow up reading Harlequins. My first novel, "Raw Silk," which was published by Black Lace in the U.K., was originally marketed as “erotica for women." It is a classic tale of a woman’s journey toward understanding her sexual self, but along that road, my heroine Kate also discovers her Master and soul mate. When I was invited to submit by a newly established romance publisher in 2006, I realized the book fit pretty well within the bounds of the romance genre and their founder agreed. For the next 10 years, I penned a lot of erotic romance stories for Totally Bound, and learned a great deal about what romance readers expect. To be totally honest, though, I tend to push those boundaries. I sometimes write erotic stories without a central romantic relationship. Plus, I am very fond of the concept of polyamory, that is, a committed relationship that extends beyond a couple, not a very traditional theme in romance. My most recent series, "The Toymaker’s Guild," follows the development of a polyamorous group of young engineers in the Victorian period. Within the romance category, I’ve experimented with a wide range of sub-genres, including paranormal, historical, LGBTQ, suspense, science fiction, steam punk, and multicultural romance. And I love to mix things up, combining multiple sub-genres in the same story.

S:  Your willingness to write outside the lines, so to speak, enhances your stories. I think it makes them more real. Life does not fit into specific boxes and neither should romance.

Do you adhere to tropes when writing romance? Which ones do you enjoy writing? Are there any tropes that make you squirm?

L: I admit to being something of a contrarian. I despise tropes. I feel that they make romance far too predictable, and I for one enjoy being surprised. One of the best ways to stimulate my creativity is to give me a trope and let me turn it on its head. For instance, in my BDSM romance novel, "The Gazillionaire and the Virgin," which came out a few years after "Fifty Shades of Gray," it’s the heroine who has the billions and the hero who’s a nerdy--but sexy-- virgin. Probably the trope I find least appealing is the secret baby. I honestly can’t understand why readers would enjoy stories about women who get pregnant unexpectedly, then are abandoned. That’s a nightmare scenario I’d think everyone would want to avoid. Maybe the satisfaction of getting back together with the father makes up for the pain, but in the real world I think this situation would leave lasting scars that would tarnish any happy ending.

S:  I have always had a problem with that trope. I think it's demeaning to women and portrays women as weak.

What do you appreciate more in your romantic partners--brains or brawn/beauty?

L:  There’s no question that for me, brains win out every time. I find intelligence incredibly sexy. I’ve written a few classic alpha heroes--including Gregory Marshall, in my first novel--but most of my male protagonists are Beta guys with the smarts to understand the complexities of their partners. I haven’t ever counted, but a lot of my heroes wear eyeglasses. In the real world, I feel the same. Many of my partners have been on the far side of brilliant. My husband is a practical genius who amazes me every day with his encyclopedic knowledge, intellectual curiosity and creative problem solving.

S:  How did you meet your current partner? When did you know he/she was “the one?”

L:  My husband and I met at a technical conference, where I was presenting a paper about my research. He came up to me afterward to discuss my work. It was obvious he was interested in me as a woman, as well as a colleague. I found him incredibly easy to talk to, but in fact I tried to get rid of him at first. At the time, he and I were living on opposite coasts of the U.S. Meanwhile, I was already involved in a couple of relationships which were not exclusive but also not casual. I thought I didn’t need the complication of yet another lover, especially long distance. Fortunately, he proved me wrong. We have been together almost forty-two years.

S:  That's really impressive. What would you like to people know about you?

L:  That’s a tough question! I guess I’d like people to understand that I write for the joy of it, not for money or fame. And I love publishing my stories because it lets me share that joy.  I’ve written fiction and poetry all my life, since I was six or seven, but never had any intention of being a professional author. When I discovered that I could actually publish and sell my stories, though, that magnified the delight I found in literary creation. Of course, I enjoy the financial rewards of my authorship, modest as they are, but the peak experience for me is to receive a review from someone who really gets what I am trying to say, or an email from a reader telling me that one of my stories made a difference in his or her life or perspective.

S:  Like you, I write for the joy of it. I'm pleased when people appreciate my books, but after successful careers in law and journalism, money never entered into it. I was more interested in unleashing all the stories in my head.

What inspired "At the Margins of Madness?"

L:  When I was a kid, my father used to make up ghost stories to tell my brother and me. I still remember some of the details from his tales, which were always quite dark and scary. I think that has influenced my own paranormal stories. They are in general, not light-hearted. My vampires do not sparkle and there’s always a price to be paid for supernatural power. "At the Margins of Madness" is a story about a young man dealing with the curse of prescient visions, which are difficult to distinguish from insanity. I have some personal experience with madness. When I was in my late teens, I spent three months in a state psychiatric hospital because of my own psychological issues. I had the opportunity to observe people suffering from schizophrenia and other forms of psychosis. This made a huge impression on me. I started this novel because I wanted to expand my writing repertoire into M/M romance. However, the atmosphere and a lot of the details are drawn from my own life.

S:  Is there anything special you would like people to know about "At the Margins of Madness?"

L:  Despite what I said earlier about twisting tropes, this novel is one of the purest romances I’ve ever written. Not pure in the sense of sweet--there’s quite a lot of gay sex in the book--but in its focus on a powerful love and a desire for commitment. Kyle and Rob are totally devoted to one another, to the exclusion of anyone else. Each of them is willing to sacrifice his life to save his lover. In fact, the book ends with a wedding, the quintessential happily ever after. I do hope that the romance fans who read your blog will give the book a try.

Here's the blurb--

Both power and love can lead to madness.

Nineteen year old Kyle sees visions of disasters, visions that tear his world apart. Everyone assumes that he is schizophrenic, but Rob, the cop who picks him up off the street, knows better.

Rob's own experience has taught him that psychic powers are real, and potentially devastating. Since his telepathic sister's brutal murder, Rob wants nothing to do with "gifted" individuals like Kyle. Yet he can't deny his  attraction to the beautiful, tortured young man – an attraction that appears to be mutual.

When a brilliant, sadistic practitioner of  the black arts lures Kyle into his clutches, Rob faces the possibility that once again he may lose the person he loves most to the forces of darkness.

 S:  It sounds like a real page-turner! Where can readers buy your book?

L:  First of all, "At the Margins of Madness" has a special new release price of $.99 until February 14. It's available at the following booksellers--

Amazon US:  https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09QQG683R/

Amazon UK:  https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B09QQG683R/

Barnes & Noble:  https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/at-the-margins-of-madness-lisabet-sarai/1140911192?ean=2940165754531

Smashwords:  https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1127718

Kobo:  https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/at-the-margins-of-madness-a-tale-of-power-and-love

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/60179575-at-the-margins-of-madness

S:  Lisabet, thanks for joining me today. If you'd like to learn more about Lisabet and her books, please visit--

Website:  http:/www.lisabetsarai.com

Blog:  http://lisabetsarai.blogspot.com

Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/83387.Lisabet_Sarai

Amazon Author Page: http://www.amazon.com/author/lisabetsarai

Twitter:  https://www.twitter.com/LisabetSarai

BookBub:  https://www.bookbub.com/profile/lisabet-sarai

BingeBooks:  https://bingebooks.com/author/lisabet-sarai

VIP email list:  https://btn.ymlp.com/xgjjhmhugmgh

This week in The Loft: Author A. J. Llewellyn!

Joining me today in The Loft is romance author A. J. Llewellyn. A. J. is the author of more than 250 M/M romance novels and writes in a variety of subgenres, including erotic, paranormal, fantasy, and contemporary romance, and romantic suspense. She claims an early obsession with Robinson Crusoe led to a lifelong love affair with islands, particularly Hawaii and Easter Island. Prior to launching her career as a romance writer, she was a journalist and boxing columnist. When not writing, A. J. pursues other passions, such as collecting books on Hawaiiana, surfing, and spending time with friends and animal companions. Born in Australia, A. J.  currently lives in Los Angeles, CA. 

Author A. J. Llewellyn

S:  Good morning, A. J. Thanks for joining me today in The Loft!

Why write romance?

A. J.:  Because love is all there is. Without love we would die. I’ve been reading romances since I was 10 years old and I’ve never stopped. I love romance.

S:  Do you write in other genres?

A. J.:  I write mysteries as well. Many of my books are romantic mysteries. They are the perfect combination. As a teenager, I used to hide in the library stacks of my high school and voraciously read gothic romances. I could hardly wait for the lunch bell so I could dive back into whatever Victoria Holt book I was reading. Romantic suspense still fills my head. These days, I like a lot of cop, law enforcement stories, too. I am proud of my Honeybone, U. S. Marshal series, which is published by eXtasy Books. There are five stories so far and there will be more. Honeybone was a series I spent a lot of time researching. I worked with a U. S. Marshal who had me sit inside an airport with him where he easily pointed out shifty people that could potentially be very dangerous. One of them was a woman carrying a teddy bear! These are realistic mysteries, but also love stories. I set the first book in Australia, and now Dean and his husband Jean-Luc and their adopted daughter are living in Texas. They are about to move again in book 6. I am also proud of my gritty series, Orgasmic Texas Dawn, 13 books so far, co-written with D.J. Manly. The rights have reverted to us, and we are re-releasing them starting in the spring. These stories are also about U. S. Marshals, but quite different in pace and tone from Honeybone.

S:  When it comes to writing romance do you consider yourself a dreamer or a realist?

A. J.:  I would have to say a combination of both. I believe in happy endings, but I also believe in character arcs and flawed characters. Some readers expect the people to be perfect from the outset, which I don’t really understand. I like stories that make me feel as if I am one of the characters. I love to see people grow and I’m so happy when my readers tell me they relate to the people in my stories.

S:  Romance in 2022. What are people getting right? Wrong?

A. J.:  That’s an interesting question. I write M/M novels and I read as much as I can. To be honest, there are some wonderful M/M authors out there and a few that well, I don’t feel their men are really gay men. They seem to be, as somebody else put it, "Chicks with dicks." I think it’s important to get things right as far as having men behave like men. Gay men are just like straight men. They just prefer men. That doesn’t mean they are emotional basket cases. As for what people are getting right, there are some good, strong, emotionally developed books out there which is wonderful.

S:  I can't help chuckling at the chicks with comment. I have felt that way so many times when reading M/M. It's nice to know someone shares that opinion.

Have you ever tried online dating? 

A. J.:  Oh, dear. Well, I used to do a lot of online dating and met some interesting men. I almost married one. I still can’t believe it, but one night I woke up and found him on his computer having online sex with another woman. I caught her screen name--this was in the days of Love At AOL, before it became Match.com--and I waited until I got home and emailed the woman. She said they’d been talking for weeks and had even met. He’d gone to her kids’ soccer game. I was very involved with his kids and friendly with his ex-wife. It hurt to lose his kids. I loved them like they were my own. He kept hounding me after we broke up but there was no way I could get past what he did. Having said that, I know a lot of people who’ve had success with online dating so I say go for it to anyone who’s willing to brave it.

S:  That sounds pretty traumatic. I almost hate to ask, what was the worst date you ever had?

A.J.  Oh, boy. That’s easy. A New Year’s Eve date set up by my aunt many, many years ago. It was a toga party and I spent hours getting ready in a sheet for a toga and a gold wreath on my head. My date turned up dressed in a suit and tie. I was one of a few people dressed in a toga and I had nothing to change into. And then I found him having sex with another woman with her boyfriend watching and encouraging them!

S:  I guess that date was hard to forget! 

As a writer, did the pandemic and the subsequent isolation work to your benefit or detriment?

A. J.:  Well, the pandemic continues, but I am finding it much easier now, even with continued restrictions. Here in California, it’s very strict. Mask mandates. Vaccine card proof mandatory to enter movie theaters, restaurants, etc. But the beginning of the pandemic was difficult for me because I had thyroid surgery in January 2020 and couldn’t speak for three and a half months. I was frankly terrified when California went into lockdown on March 17 of that year, because I couldn’t call and order food or speak to a friend. Or even call for help in an emergency. It really made me appreciate a friend of mine who lost his voice permanently in an accident. I couldn’t write. I was a mess. I was in pain from the surgery. It was horrible. A friend of mine sent me to a healer and she was very nice, and I know my friend spent a fortune on the woman, but she couldn’t help. She did say something interesting though. I told her I couldn’t write, and she said, “Of course you can’t. Writing is an extension of your voice and you’ve lost it.” I did get better and my writing came back. But I have been even more mindful ever since of other people who might be alone and need help. I’ve always done volunteer work. Now I do even more.

S:  I suspect these experiences have helped shape your stories. Is there any one thing the inspires your stories?

A. J.:  I am inspired by so many things. Snippets of conversations I hear. Stories people tell me. Because I write romance and I guess I’m a good listener, people tell me stuff. One night at dinner, a friend of mine who is an emergency room nurse, arrived late and told us she’d had an emergency. A man came in who’d been in a terrible car accident. His penis had been severed. He’d been driving and the woman in the car with him gave him a blowjob--as he was driving on the freeway--and he lost control of the car, slamming into the median wall. She accidentally bit down on his penis, severing it. My friend told me they were able to retrieve his penis and reattach it and said the couple was lucky to be alive. As she was leaving the hospital, my nurse friend encountered a weeping woman who said her husband had been brought in. Turned out it was the guy with the reattached appendage. This led me to writing my book, "Kaleidoscope," published by eXtasy Books. I also am lucky to have readers who suggest ideas to me. One reader had won an art auction in Florida and the prize was the leather jacket that belonged to a deceased artist. On the epaulet of the jacket was a cock ring. My reader said, “Wouldn’t it be fun if you had a character that got the jacket and used the cock ring and became possessed by the spirit of the dead artist?” It was fun coming up with this romantic ghost story, which became "The Sex Ring," also published by eXtasy Books.

S:  What famous book do you wish you had written?

A.J.:  I love this question! I would say "The Lovely Bones," because Alice Sebold’s book is just beautiful and an absolute joy to read. I loved every word. This book to me is exactly how I feel about heaven. I believe we are reunited with our lost loves on the other side of the rainbow. I believe the animals we’ve loved come back to us there. The way she explains why we gravitate toward some people in life is so well explained. I lost my mother when I was six and I know she is there in a beautiful place and we will meet again. If I had written this book, though, I would have never let the movie version be made. It was terrible.

S:  Movies have ruined so many great books. I realize that it can be difficult to adapt a book to screen, but sometimes movies totally change the story. I hate that.

What is the best advice you’ve ever been given?

A. J.:  I once took a writing class from Mary Higgins Clark, the Queen of Suspense. I traveled to New York and slept on a friend’s floor with a family of mice that lived in her vacuum cleaner--that was weird--but that class still sticks in my head. Mary told us all to read, read, read. Which I do. She also said find tiny newspaper articles and ask, “What if?” I’ve been doing that ever since. I have over 300 books published so I’ve been asking myself that question a lot.

S:  Her advice is sound. I can't believe how often a news story grabs my attention and my first thought is, "What if?"

A. J., thank you so much for joining me today! It has truly been a delight. If you'd like to learn more about A. J. and her books, please visit--

Website:  www.ajllewellyn.com

Twitter:  www.twitter.com/ajllewellyn.com

Facebook:  www.facebook.com/aj.llewellyn

Newsletter sign-up:  ajllewellynnewsletter@gmail.com

This week in The Loft: Adriana Kraft!

Joining me today in The Loft is the husband-wife writing team that goes by the name of Adriana Kraft. Breaking the mold of staid, fusty academics, the retired professors write erotic romance. After living in the Midwest, they moved to southern Arizona, where they enjoy hiking, golf, and travel to Arizona Native American historical sites. Adriana Kraft has published more than 50 erotic romance novels and novellas.

The avatar for Adriana Kraft

S:  Good morning from the very chilly Midwest. You must really be enjoying the weather in sunny Arizona!

Let's start at the beginning. Why write romance?

A:  There is more than enough tragedy, drama, and despair in real life to go around. All of us need hope, happiness, and escape at least some of the time. Romance--at least the way Mr. Kraft and I choose to write it--offers so many gateways, not just to happy feelings, but to self-exploration, personal growth, facing tough issues, discovering what we hope for, expanding our dreams. We could all benefit from a little more romance in our lives.

S:  We certainly could! Especially in these troubled times. Do you write in other genres?

A:  Romance is the only genre we write. It’s our first love—we need happy endings as much as anyone else. We love living in a fictional world where real-life problems we all face can be overcome. I suppose that’s our way of tilting at windmills. We do write in two main sub-genres. Our romantic suspense is for readers who want danger, suspense, and a traditional romance between one man and one woman. Our erotic romance nearly always expands to include three or more persons, sometimes in a committed polyamory relationship, sometimes in what’s come to be called consensual non-monogamy, such as the swing lifestyle. Sometimes, we blur the boundaries between erotic romance and erotica, but we always have a loving relationship at the center of our stories, no matter how intense the eroticism.

S:  I think you know I am a big fan of your writing. Your books are a pleasure to read.

When it comes to writing romance, do you consider yourself a dreamer or a realist?

A:  We pour so much of ourselves and our personal experience into our stories that we’d have to be classified as realists. That being said, if anyone wrote the story of our lives, it would never be published, because it’s too filled with coincidence, luck, crazy left turns, and yes, big dreams, more than one of which came to fruition. In "Willow Smoke," one of our favorite heroes--a wealthy man from success with stock options--tells the heroine “…if you hang around me much, you’ll have to get used to expanding your dreams. I don’t dream small. It doesn’t take any more time to dream big than small.”

S:  Are there any characteristics your lead characters share?

A:  Not surprisingly, they share our major values or if they don’t, they’re troubled about it and learn some hard lessons--Honesty, integrity, kindness, generosity, acceptance, equality, staying healthy, dreaming big. For example, the entire plot of our erotic romance, "The Diary," hinges on a major deception--Kate sets out to entrap a professor she believes has seduced her younger sister. Eventually her lie becomes an albatross and its discovery is an earthquake in her life, with a steep learning curve.

S:  Do you adhere to tropes when writing romance? Which ones do you enjoy writing? Are there any tropes that make you squirm?

A:  Mr. Kraft and I were raw amateurs when we first began writing romance, so in the beginning we didn’t even recognize tropes. If we followed them it was accidental and probably a tad off the beaten path. One trope neither of us particularly likes is the hidden pregnancy--you know, when the hero comes back to town and discovers the heroine/ex-girlfriend has had his baby. When we wrote it, we changed it up--we won’t tell you who the father actually is, but it’s not, as people assume, the recently returned war hero of "The Painter is a Lady."

S:  I have to admit, I always find that trope somewhat offensive. While concealing a pregnancy may make sense in life-threatening circumstances, most of the time it does not. This trope also tends to make the women appear weak, rather than strong. I am not a fan of that.

How did you meet your current partner? When did you know he was “the one?"

A:  I was a graduate student and entry-level faculty member when he was hired onto the faculty of the program I worked in. I remember going, “Wow,” when I first saw him at the fall university gathering where new faculty were introduced. Evidently several other women did, too. In any case, the more we worked together, the more I liked him, and by the end of the academic year--with a push from one of our co-workers--he asked me out. We were married a year later, on the summer solstice. We’re still in love. Writing romance together both grows from and feeds into that love.

S:  That's such a wonderful story. What would you like people to know about you?

A:  A social work educator and a sociologist, Mr. Kraft and I are now retired from our day jobs and live in southern Arizona. Both of us had been avid romance readers, and there came a point in our careers where we thought it might be more fun to write romance than the sometimes dry academic writing we’d occasionally collaborated on. In a way, the jury’s still out on the fun element--turns out it’s a lot of hard work and we had a lot to learn. But we were also full of stories. Writing was definitely a part-time endeavor while we were still in our day jobs, but these days it can easily fill up a week if we let it. We do love it and I’m guessing that qualifies as fun.

S:  What’s the best advice you have ever been given?

A:  Never give up. I always cop to two favorite authors when I answer this question. I was fortunate to hear Judith Viorst in person in the early 90s--starting in her teens, she never stopped writing through nearly two decades of rejections before her first acceptance. The same message rings true in the German Poet Reiner Maria Rilke’s "Letters to a Young Poet." Many years ago, I typed out the following passage--in the era before personal computers--and pinned it to my bulletin board: “This most of all: ask yourself in the most silent hour of your night: must I write? Dig into yourself for a deep answer. And if this answer rings out in assent, if you meet this solemn question with a strong, simple I must, then build your life in accordance with this necessity.”

S:  What inspired your most recent release, "I Am Not for Sale?"

A:  So many things. Not long after Ukraine’s Orange Revolution in 2004, I travelled there for a work-related project and was struck with the deep strength and resilience of the people I met. Mr. Kraft and I wanted to capture that spirit in a character, so recent U.S. Immigrant Nadja Petrov was born out of that first spark. We took advantage of some local real estate shenanigans for part of our plot, and we blessed Nadja with proprietorship of our favorite espresso café, a hangout for artists and musicians where we’d also done readings. I will add that Mr. Kraft is trained as a criminologist, so we had no shortage of resources for throwing our characters into the path of danger.

S:  Is there anything special you would like people to know about "I Am Not for Sale?"

A:  Perhaps most of all, I was struck by the ingenuity and determination of the Ukrainian people to maintain their orthodox faith during all those decades of communist rule. Religious practices were banned across Ukraine--yet many of the local staff I worked with had been smuggled as infants by their families to orthodox priests, to be baptized in secret. All those decades of suppression could not snuff out the flame. We play both sides of this phenomenon in our story. Nadja herself is not a believer. Too much has happened in her life for her to trust. But her Aunt Ivett, who immigrated to America earlier than Nadja, gives us a vehicle for some of these older Ukrainian memories. Ivett helped make sure the faith did not die and she brought it with her to America. She is still faithful, frequently lighting a candle for herself or her niece. Unable to have children herself, Ivett is committed to family and deeply wants Nadja to marry and carry on the family line. Perhaps it’s not so surprising then, that there’s an entirely different side to Ivett’s character. She supplies Nadja with toys and explicit videos to enhance her, um, skills.

S:  As the granddaughter of immigrants from Eastern Europe, there  is a lot in that story I identify with. 

Adriana, thanks so much for joining me today. If you'd like to learn more about the Krafts and their books, please visit--

Blog:  https://www.adrianakraft.com/blog

Twitter:  https://twitter.com/AdrianaKraft

Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/adriana.kraft.5

FaceBook Fan Page:  https://www.facebook.com/AdrianaKraftAuthor

Instagram:  https://www.instagram.com/kraftadriana/

Amazon Author Page:  https://www.amazon.com/author/adrianakraft

GoodReads:  https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/1578571.Adriana_Kraft

BookBub:  https://www.bookbub.com/authors/adriana-kraft

Newsletter:  Free download of our erotic romance novella, Cherry Tune-Up, for signing up.

This week in The Loft: Australian author Jan Selbourne!

Joining me today in The Loft is Jan Selbourne. Jan writes historical romance, as well as historical fiction. She discovered a love for literature and history while growing up in Melbourne, Australia. After graduating from business college, Jan entered the dusty world of ledgers and accounting, working in Victoria, Queensland and the United Kingdom. Eventually she went to work for a large New South Wales historical society. Now retired, Jan writes full-time. She has two adult children, a lovable dog, and lives near Maitland, New South Wales.

Author Jan Selbourne

S:  Good evening Jan. Thanks for joining me for a chat. 

Why write romance?

J:  It’s an escape, hope, a voice. I’m sure authors enjoy guiding their characters through adversity, loss, and despair to a happy ending as much as our readers.

S:  Providing a happy ending is always satisfying. You also write historical fiction. What attracts you to that?

J:  History is my favorite because every era is unique and full of colorful people who made their mark.  Caesar and Cleopatra, Robin Hood, Henry VIII and his six wives, Mozart, Napoleon Bonaparte, George Washington, Hitler, regrettably--all good fodder for a book. I recently joined forces with my author friend Anne Krist to write Christmas novellas set in the Vietnam war era, bringing me into the 20th century.

S:  What is the best thing that has ever happened to you as a writer?

J:  Meeting authors from around the world and receiving wonderful book reviews has been incredibly rewarding, but the best ever was The Coffee Pot Book Club Book of the Year Award, Silver Medal, for my historical novel, "Lies of Gold."

S:  If you had to do it all over again would you still choose to write books?

J:  Yes definitely.  Writing a book is a joy and very satisfying.

S:  What’s the best advice you’ve ever been given?

J:  If something in our life isn’t right, such as a bad relationship, a rotten job, unjust treatment, we have two choices.  We can leave, take another direction even though it might be tough for a while. Or we can stay. If we stay, we can't complain because it was our choice.

S:  Wise advice. You are in charge of your own destiny. What inspired "Perilous Love?"

J:  Reading an article on how a person’s true character emerges when faced with life threatening danger or extreme stress. The chest puffing he-man might turn to water and run. The shy insignificant person finds inner strength to face adversity head on. I was working on my family tree and had just read my grandfather’s military service records of his time in France and Belgium during World War One. The bloodshed and appalling atrocities affected him deeply and it was years before he could talk about it. His anecdotes to my mother and that article inspired "Perilous Love."  

S:  How fascinating to have access to such a personal account of World War One. Is there anything special you would like people to know about "Perilous Love?"

J:  The story is fiction but what my characters witnessed and endured in Belgium is based on fact.

Here’s the blurb--

As the world rushes towards a war, the British government orders wealthy businessman, Adrian Bryce to leave his mistress and accompany his estranged wife, Gabrielle, to Belgium. They require proof Gabrielle’s uncle is supporting the German Empire. Adrian discovers secrets which plunge him and Gabrielle into a nightmare of betrayal. Forced to run for their lives as Germany invades, they must trust each other through danger, brutality, and injury.

Gabrielle enjoys her role of mother of their two children. Wanting only to be with her lover, and now fearful of exposure, she readies herself and her children for a difficult trip. With no way out, Gabrielle knows the visit with her aristocratic traditional family will be a trial, and Europe is on edge. She had no idea of the horrors ahead of them.

Will Adrian and Gabrielle reach safety? If they do, are they out of danger or will the intrigue and treason follow them back to England?

S:  That certainly sounds suspenseful. Where can readers buy "Perilous Love?"

J:  It's available at Perilous Love - Kindle edition by Selbourne, Jan. Romance Kindle eBooks @ Amazon.com.

S:  Jan, thanks so much for joining me today. If you'd like to learn more about Jan and her books, please visit--

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