My voice caught in my throat as I was about to comment that Gemini’s nose was already irrevocably red, even though it wasn’t. The sound of horse’s hooves on the shore along with the act of everyone around me turning and gasping with awe and fear told me that he had arrived to the docks. Lord Alexander Killdaren.

Though the mystery surrounding Mary’s death had been solved, the murder of Lady Helen Kennedy eight years ago had not been. Since Sean Killdaren and Lord Alexander Killdaren were the last ones to see her alive and a witness had seen one of them leaving the scene of the murder, a dark cloud of suspicion hung over their lives. To this day the villagers gave the Killdaren twins a wide berth. Neither Cassie nor I believed the rumors. She was sure Sean was innocent and I was convinced Lord Alexander was, too.

Lord Alexander leapt from the saddle and strode down the dock, a commanding figure to be reckoned with. Shockingly dressed in only snug black pants, a loose white shirt, and knee-high boots, he could have easily been a swashbuckling pirate from a reckless age. His dark hair framed his strong features, and lay wildly windblown well over the collar of his shirt. His thick muscles strained against his clothes as he walked. His charismatic aura jarred the world around him like a stiff wind from the dark sea and blasted me as he neared.

He must have felt my regard, for he suddenly gazed right at me. I stared directly at him as if possessed by a need and will greater than any rule of propriety I’d ever leaned. “Lord Alexander is great indeed,” I murmured.

“What?” Cassie asked, following my gaze with hers. She gasped and grabbed my hand. I heard the “Sean” that rang through her mind before her pulse steadied and she whispered, “Lord Alexander.” All of that pent up worry I’d felt in her earlier escaped in his name.

As we stared at him, he nodded his head politely then passed by without offering a cordial greeting before going to the ship where I’d seen the wild horse being gentled.

Now that you have read the description let’s have a little fun with my fictional heroes. The lucky ladies who have read the stories might have a bit of an advantage because they have a good idea what my heroes look like…everywhere. For those who haven’t read the stories, don’t worry, just imagine what the rest of my hero looks like.
Here’s the challenge. You’ve just inherited your long lost relative’s business in Hollywood. This book is being made into a movie. Below are the actors you have to choose from to be the hero of this story. Which one would you choose and why?
Bon appetit!

The post Alexander Killdaren as described by Andromeda Andrews appeared first on USA Today Bestselling Author Jennifer St. Giles.

It’s cold out.  The sun is shining brightly, and I woke up this morning determined to finish the dreaded synopsis for Book 2 of my Silent Warrior Series, titled TACTICAL DECEPTION!  More about this in a moment.  First let me give you the SEVEN SUSPENSEFUL SENTENCES FROM COLLATERAL DAMAGE.  Then I will address something that everyone both loves and hates this time of year…The NEW YEAR RESOLUTION and end up with TACTICAL DECEPTION.

Meet Sergent First Class, Jack “DT” Hunter from COLLATERAL DAMAGE

“Shorter of breath and one day closer to death…

Pink Floyd’s “Time” hammered through Sergeant First Class Jack Hunter’s brain as he tightened his grip on the treadmill and ran harder, his heart pounding, his lungs burning. Rage tinged with fear made for a potent Power Bar that fueled his drive. Sweat poured from his brow and his body screamed for relief, but he couldn’t stop. Not yet.

His vision dimmed, and President Anderson’s address on the overhead TV calling for a swift but rational retaliation to al-Qaeda’s latest attack became nothing but a blur in his mind.

Life often hinged on the details, those seemingly insignificant microscopic events that most people trampled over obliviously.”

That is the beginning paragraph of the book.  Jack has no other choice but to damn the consequences and move full speed ahead when news reports of an American Businessman killed yesterday in Brazil surface.  Jack knows without a doubt that he killed the man two weeks ago on a FUBAR mission in Lebanon.  Nobody believed him because the body disappeared.  Now Jack goes AWOL from the hospital, determined to uncover the truth and gets more than he bargains for when he meets up with the businessman’s widow and two small sons.  They end up running for their lives from assassins as they unravel a global terrorist plot and Jack loses more to the family of the man he killed than he ever thought he had–his heart.

Read the full excerpt of COLLATERAL DAMAGE Here.

Now the dreaded New Years Resolutions…

Those one sentence killers that everyone painfully utters with their hearts full of hope that this year they can turn the tides in their life and accomplish their heart’s desire.  I took the plunge and made two myself.  I had meant not to make any, so that I wouldn’t have to face myself in the mirror when I failed to carry through with my self-promises.  But then I heard two, one from my son and one from a radio talk show host and I thought.  You know what?  That’s exactly what I am going to do.

New Year’s Resolution number One.  JUST DO IT DAMN IT.  This one came from my son.  A very simple motto with which to face the mountains of little things that never get done year after year.  A simple motto to face that nagging mess on my desk.  A simple motto to face writing the next book, or blogging on my thoughts.  Writers are extremely good at procrastination.  It is a job requirement meant to keep our souls in a state of torment because we are compelled by forces beyond our control to write, and yet abhor the discipline of having to sit before a blank computer screen until inspiration strikes.  But then when inspiration finally does hit us, writing a story is like soaring through the air with the wind beneath our wings and the sun bright and warm upon our faces.

New Year’s Resolution number Two.  MAKE EVERY CHOICE A WISE ONE.  A very simple motto to face everyday and every decision that comes your way.   Before you decide, before you speak, before you act, take half a second and ask yourself IS THIS CHOICE A WISE ONE.  Would that we all do it.  For now I am seriously going to do a New Year’s resolution trade with my youngest son.  I’ll tell myself every day to just do it damn it.  If he’ll ask himself at every choice if it is a wise choice or not.  Considering he just turned eighteen, maybe I will avert some of the angst of being a mom.

Now about TACTICAL DECEPTION..

This will be Lt. Col. Roger Weston and Mari Dalton’s story.  For those of you who have read COLLATERAL DAMAGE, then you will already know who the hero and heroine are.  At this point I can tell you that Roger is willing to put everything on the line to save Mari and her unborn child, but between Mari’s radical family, a plot to kill the president, and a extremist out to kill them both, it might not be enough to save them.  But then perhaps Mari has a surprise that will turn the tide.  Well keep you posted on the details of the book and what is happening in my life here!

There are  a host of great authors participating in the SUSPENSEFUL 7 SENTENCE SUNDAY.  Please go check them out here.

Good Morning, Go Forth and choose Wisely!

Jenni

The post Suspenseful Seven Sentence Sunday!!! appeared first on USA Today Bestselling Author Jennifer St. Giles.

Collateral Damage

Virna DePaulI interviewed J.L. Saint about her new ebook original, Collateral Damage, a romantic suspense with Samhain Publishing, Ltd. With the world on the edge of war, one wounded Delta Soldier and one desperate woman are at the center of a horrific plot and running for their lives. As they unravel the deceit, they are thrust into a race to save her children and stop a global meltdown into anarchy.

Previous reviews of Saint’s works, which she published under the name Jennifer St. Giles, have routinely commented on her masterful ability to weave suspense and emotion:

“St. Giles’s story ripples with tension.”–Publishers Weekly

“Raw emotions give way to desperate choices, which adds up to breathless reading pleasure.” –Romantic Times

Sexually charged romance that satisfies whether you’re seeking suspense or passion.” –Romantic Times

“Fast paced, full of mystery, and…danger. I couldn’t put the book down.” —A Romance Review.com

You’ve indicated Collateral Damage is a “military thriller with a slice of romance” that is “different” from your other books. Can you tell us how?

Collateral Damage is the first book in my Silent Warrior Series that will feature a military man or woman as the hero or heroine of the story. The first few books in the series center around a Delta Team whose mission to extract high profile hostages from a radical group in Lebanon turns into tragedy. These are not battlefield thrillers, but stories that place a military hero and his extraordinary skills in a domestic setting with a high-octane plot. In all nine of my published novels (Pocket Books and Berkley Publishing) there is an element of suspense, either a murder mystery in my gothic historicals, or a do or die fight against evil in my paranormal contemporaries. I also have a very sensual romance at the core of each story. When I write I want my readers to feel the story, be it humor, heart-stopping suspense or pulse-pounding passion. What makes Collateral Damage different is that there are no paranormal elements to the stories and I have more freedom to explore some of the controversial issues all of us are facing in the world today.

You started Collateral Damage in the early 2000s before 9/11. In the first chapter, we see Delta Force soldier Jack Hunter freshly wounded from a rescue mission and itching to return to the frey after al-Qaeda attacks American’s oil hubs. Can you discuss the progression of this work from its inception to publication?

I wrote the proposal for Collateral Damage in 2000. Set it ten years in the future and used the world’s dependency on oil and inflamed religious factions to bring about global chaos as the backdrop for the story. The only real changes I made before finally getting to write the story in 2010, is that I went to an algae-based biofuel from a space mined fuel and I went to a ruthless environmentalist as the mastermind behind the plot as opposed to American businessmen. Immediately after 9/11 no one wanted to touch the story. Al-Qaeda was too sensitive a subject, especially for a romance writer. Then I became published in the historical and paranormal genres and it sat in my file cabinet for nine years. But the way the real world events kept playing out since 9/11, I couldn’t get the story out of my head. I kept seeing how ripe the world was for this “what if scenario” and I finally decided to write the book. My next problem was that I had this big world plot, but I wanted to bring the story down to a personal level and how an everyday person is affected by the collateral damage from the choices another person close to them makes. Because the truth of the matter is everyone suffers collateral damage in their life. How they deal with it is what determines the quality of their future.

At one time, you were a nurse. How has that experience played out in your writing?

I recently attended Kennesaw State University and have just renewed my license to practice nursing after eighteen years out of the field. I am currently looking for a part time position. As for how nursing has helped my writing, I find that I often pull on my medical based background in both my plots and in characterization, but I think the influence goes deeper in that there is a nurturing element to my heroines and even my heroes that is a part of me and what led me to the practice of nursing in the first place.

You write Contemporary and Historical Paranormals, Contemporary Suspense/Thrillers, and Contemporary Romance. What advice do you have for authors wanting to write cross-genre?

First and foremost, write a story that you are passionate about and not a story solely based on what is selling now. If you can twist what is hot on the market to fit the story you want to write in your heart, then go for it. But in order to excite others, you need to be excited yourself. For me, I love story and I believe passionately in two important elements to the stories I write no matter the genre. I believe that when you boil all of life down to its core, you end up with the need to love and be loved as the most important and fulfilling element in life. So I write about love, the expression of that love physically, mentally, and spiritually, and the power of overcoming obstacles make love possible. Secondly, I believe in the battle of good and evil on earth and in the spirit world. So I write about that as well. By taking those two elements and believing passionately in them, I think a writer can write a story in any genre they choose.

Is there generally a message in your novels you want readers to grasp?

Well, LOL I think I answered this question in part already. Messages in my books are about love, acceptance that people are not perfect but are still worthy to be loved. That life is not perfect but still worthy of living. That there is a higher power and good does conquer evil.

What are your tips for meshing suspense and romance? For readers who like a lot of romance, which of your books would you recommend as an introduction to you work?

Meshing romance and suspense is different depending on the genre. In the gothic historicals with a murder mystery at the core, the romance and the suspense are like a coil being twisted tighter and tighter. The closer the heroine gets to the hero, the closer she comes to discovering the truth, and the more her heart and life is endangered. Yet she continually makes the choice to reach out to the hero no matter what the consequences. With the contemporary thrillers the romance and the suspense play out differently. The hero and the heroine are in a desperate race to save their lives or souls, the lives of those they love, or even the world. This battle strips away normal social barriers and bares their souls to each other. During the action the hero and heroine continually make the choice for the other’s good and eventually make the choice to love no matter what the cost. It is this sustained emotional element that makes a thriller a romantic thriller.

What fictional novels are you reading now?

Authors I have read this year are, JD Robb, Brad Thor, Suzanne Brockman, Andrew Peterson, AJ Tata, Amy Fetzer, Lara Adrian, JR Ward, Andrew Gross, Barry Eisler, Jacquie D’Alessandro, Allison Brennan, Alex Berenson, and Nora Roberts to name a few. LOL

Is there anything you find particularly challenging about writing?

The time and the focus to write everything in my head. And if someone has a cure for the Procrastination Virus please contact me.

How has your writing process changed as your career has developed?

When my children were little I would write between 10 at night to 4 in the morning, now that I am getting older, I don’t function during those hours and I write in the day time.

Do you have any advice for authors seeking to write suspense for both male and female readers?

I am exploring that issue now as I make a decided step toward the thriller genre. What I hear from women readers, and know for myself as a reader, is that women want an emotionally rich and satisfying story with an uplifting ending and monogamy in the romance along with the heart-stopping suspense. They also tend to want to see the physical relationship play out on the page. Also, both the hero and the heroine have very strong, very active roles in the action and plot.

Men want an action oriented plot, possibly more realism, and not necessarily a character who settles on one romantic interest. LOL if the hero or heroine does commit or becomes really romantically interested in another character then often that character gets killed. The hero and the heroine don’t jointly play a strong, active role throughout the entire story. It is either one or the other. (If I have this wrong, then please let me know). Marrying these two wants into one book isn’t an easy task and may not be entirely possible. Except for a few, romance writers who have become successful thriller writers, lose some of the elements that defined them as romance writers. I hope that I can find the key that will satisfy both men and women readers.

Can you tell us a little about the next novel you’re working on?

My ambitious writing docket for 2011?

Write a short story for an upcoming anthology.

Write book 2 in the Silent Warrior Series that will feature Lt. Col. Roger Weston and Mari Dalton (two characters introduced in Collateral Damage)

Finish the last section of the pilot script for a paranormal/crime tv series I have developed.

Finish my steampunk proposal, book one of a The Covenant Conspiracies called Legacy Undone.

Finish book five in The Shadowmen Series called Bewitching the Wolf.

And since I have re-sold my Killdaren Series to be re-released in ebook, Midnight Secrets 4/2011, Darkest Dreams 8/2011, and Silken Shadows 12/2011, I would like to have a new historical gothic ready to be released in 2012.

Am I insane? Yes. Shoot for the stars and you may end up with the moon or only an armful of air, but at least you’ll have tried and maybe your feet will no longer be stuck in the mud.
About the author:
J.L. Saint is the pseudonym for USA Today Bestselling Author Jennifer St. Giles. She is a nurse and the mother of three. She has won a number of awards for writing excellence, the Daphne du Maurier Award, Romance Writers’ of America’s Golden Heart Award, two National Reader’s Choice Awards, two time Maggie Award Winner, and the RT Book Club’s Reviewer’s Choice Award for Best Historical Gothic/Mystery.
For more information, go to: www.jlsaint.com or www.jenniferstgiles.com

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