Our guests today are the four authors of a riveting new romantic suspense anthology titled Capitol Danger. Please help me welcome J.D. Tyler, Jeanne Adams, Nancy Northcott, and Suzanne Ferrell!
For more information about each of today's authors, please see the their bios and website/social media links below.
PJ: Welcome to the Romance Dish and congratulations on the
release of your new anthology, Capitol Danger! It’s a riveting collection of
stories that grabbed my attention from the beginning and kept me reading way
past my normal bedtime.
JD: Thanks so much for having us
here! We’re so glad you enjoyed the book!
Suz: Hehehe, I love it when our
book has kept people reading past their bedtime!
PJ: Capitol Danger is described as “four stories, one event, and
four dangerous missions on the same night.” Please tell our readers a bit about
the location and event that sets the stage for the book.
Jeanne: The event is the
exciting inaugural “event night” for the swearing in of the nation’s president
and in this story, its particularly spectacular because it’s another national
“first” — the swearing in the first female president! The Nation’s Capitol is always a fun destination,
but it glitters more than Hollywood on the night of an Inauguration, and never
more so than when it’s a major milestone inaugural like this one.
However, home grown terrorists,
The Red Mantle, don’t believe women should be allowed to have any political or
personal power. That a woman’s been
elected to the highest seat offends them and they’re going to do something
about it.
The location is a high-end,
boutique hotel (totally made up, by the way, so no one would be offended by
us…damaging it!). The Fierenze is a new
hotel, and as such, it isn’t hosting one of the bigger galas, which are usually
booked into the major DC-area hotels.
It’s also not as well guarded, or secured…
PJ: What should readers expect from each of your stories?
Suz: In UNMASKED, I brought a few familiar characters from
my Edgars Family series—Luke Edgars, Abigail Whitson and Frank Castello—in to
run an undercover operation. It’s supposed to be simple, tag their target so
they can monitor him and get out. Only, things don’t go quite as planned. Their
mission turns into a protect-and-evacuate their target before anyone knows he’s
there. And quite a few surprises pop up along their way.
Jeanne: From my story, DEATH UNDER GLASS, readers should
expect surprises. My hero and heroine
aren’t undercover, nor are they cops. They’re
just people attending the ball who step into the breech and become heroes in
their own right, because of the circumstances.
I’ve always been fascinated by people who “step-up” when they’re needed,
and Retta and Edward do just that.
Nancy: DANGER’S EDGE
features a rookie from the Arachnid Agency teaming up with an FBI agent on
medical leave while he recovers from a gunshot wound. Neither of them feels prepared for this
situation. They have no choice, though,
other than to step up and handle the bad guys or die trying. There’s action, a
little humor, and sexual tension.
JD: LETHAL TARGET is the conclusion
to the anthology, and FBI Special Agent Dalton McCoy is undercover trying to
bring down Methan, the leader of the group. All doesn’t quite go as planned,
and he’s left not only fighting for his own life, but trying to protect Jolie
Montfort, a reporter from Dallas whom he’d met before…
PJ: Are your stories in this anthology tied to other books
you’ve published? Will we see any of these characters again?
Suz: Why PJ, of course they are.
Luke Edgars and Abigail Whitson were the hero and heroine in my 4th
Edgars Family Novel, VANISHED. When the opportunity came for me to write for
CAPITOL DANGER, I realized, I wasn’t finished with their story and HEA. Abby is
nearly six feet tall and having her undercover as a supermodel let me dress her
and Luke in formal wear. I also got to torture Frank Castello, a U.S. Marshall
the Edgars have informally adopted into their clan, with a tuxedo. J We meet Zoe Edgars,
the “black sheep” cousin of the Edgars clan. Frank’s story is the next big
novel in this series, titled EXPOSED. While, Zoe is one of those characters who
hasn’t quite told me her story yet, but I know we’ll be seeing her again as the
series progresses!
Jeanne: Oh, yes! As with my delightful co-authors, my
characters in this book are going to become even more important in forthcoming
books. Burke Chapman, a sort of sidekick
in this novella, is the hero of my forthcoming Dead Reckoning, the second book in
the Faithful Defenders series (restarted by Dead Run). In addition, you’ll see Detective Sara
Hardinger and Agent Peter Trent again when I finally get to release Deadly
Charms. Last but not least, Edward and a
number of the other characters will rise to the occasion as well, in future
books.
Nancy: This is a
departure for me. I love my mage series,
but I also have ideas for other kinds of books. We’ll see Kelsey and Greg again
in 2016, likely in another novella, and there will be at least 3 novels, each
featuring a different Arachnid agent, in the series.
JD: Yes, my story is tied to my
romantic suspense/thriller series, Armed & Deadly. This series centers
around a group of FBI agents, and the novella is a teaser for Dalton and
Jolie’s story, which will actually be book 2. Book 1 is ONE LAST KISS, which
will be released soon.
PJ: What was the most difficult challenge to writing this type
of anthology? What was the most fun?
Suz: The challenge? Recognizing that all four of us have
strong personalities, belief in our stories and our own writing process. One of
us sort of had to be, to borrow an old western trail-drive term, the ramrod.
Since I have a system set up for my indie books and wanted to work with my
people, I took over the ramrod job. Enough said on that! J
The most fun? Seeing this unique project come to
fruition, bouncing ideas off the other writers and seeing how four authors with
totally different voices come at the same set of events with totally different
perspectives and yet make one cohesive story! Love it!!
**Please, please ask JD, Nancy and Jeanne about the
hotel’s floor plans!**
Jeanne: The most difficult
challenge was being sure we wove the stories together so that we kept up with
the timeline – my story couldn’t end without mentioning things that happened in
Suzanne’s novella! One of the most fun
things, for me, was designing the hotel.
Nancy: Learning to
synchronize with other writers was the biggest challenge. Seeing the different spins everyone put on
the setup was the most fun.
JD: The hardest thing for me was
collaborating with other authors because I’m used to working totally alone. I’m
sort of an introvert and tend to go completely underground when I’m on
deadline, which I’m sure frustrated my fellow authors to no end on this
project! The most fun was watching a story this unique take shape, come
together, and form into something we could be proud of. These ladies were fun
to work with!
PJ: Have any of you ever attended an Inaugural Ball? In a world
where anything would be possible, would you rather attend as a guest, as one of
your crime-fighting characters or would your preference be to stay home and
watch the festivities on TV?
Suz: No, but I might like to go one just to people watch!
So, I’d either go as a guest, or even as a caterer/wait staff.
Jeanne: No, but I would so love
to go to one! I’m not one to dress up
and go out to that sort of event that much, but oh! An Inaugural? I’d SO go for that! I’d elect to be either a guest, happily
sipping champagne and people-watching, or a reporter…
Nancy: I attended
an inaugural ball of a NC governor a long time ago. It was a lot of fun. Going once in a while would be fun, but I
didn’t love the crowds. If I were going,
I’d rather be just a guest than someone on the watch for trouble.
JD: I’m wearing a huge smile right
now at this question, because I’m not interested in politics or Inaugural
festivities in the least! I would rather drag my hero away from the party by
his coat, rent a motel room, and make him totally forget why he ever wanted to
go in the first place!
PJ: Capitol Danger leaves open the possibility of more bad
people doing bad things and I, for one, would love to read about them. Do you
plan to write another anthology together?
Suz: It would depend on the scenario and how my
characters would fit into it. I think we learned a lot about how to do a
project like this and how to make it work seamlessly. Who knows?
Nancy: We haven’t
gotten that far. We’re still doing the
happy dance over this anthology being out in the world.
JD: I’d be open to doing another
one with a different premise, and of course plenty of heroes getting in on the
action. This one was a process and it ended up working well.
PJ: What can we expect from each of you next?
Suz: I’m currently writing on two projects, EXPOSED for
the Edgars Family novels will hopefully be out some time later this year and
CLOSE TO THE MISTLETOE, which is another Christmas novella set in my small town
RS series Westen. It’s part of a Christmas anthology I’ll have more news about
later this month.
Jeanne: As I mentioned earlier, I’ll be releasing the
second book in the Faithful Defenders series, Dead Reckoning, probably in September. After that, the third book, Dead Wrong, as
well as the second book in my Slip Traveler Urban Fantasy series in December.
Nancy: I plan to
use my Arachnid operatives (named for Arachne, the Greek weaver Athena changed
into the first spider for sassing her) in two ways. I’ll continue the Arachnid Files, and next
year will see the launch of another new series centering on one of Kelsey’s
colleagues. Meanwhile, I have Nemesis, the next Light Mage Wars book,
coming in September and The Herald of Day,
the first of a historical fantasy trilogy, in October.
JD: Next up for me is the release
of BRING THE HEAT (Sugarland Blue #5) as Jo Davis in December. And right now
I’m writing PHOENIX REBORN (Alpha Pack 7.5), which is Nix and Noah’s story, and
will be released on March 15, 2016. I’m really excited about my first m/m story
in the Alpha Pack world! Then I’m working on proposals for more Alpha Pack
books, a possible new series, and a holiday novella in the Armed & Deadly
series that will be out in a boxed set later in November. Lots to write and I’m
so excited to bring these stories to my readers!
PJ: Where can readers connect with you online?
Suz:
Nancy:
Twitter:
@NancyNorthcott
Goodreads:
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/3468806.Nancy_Northcott
JD:
FACEBOOK:
https://www.facebook.com/pages/JD-Tyler/192403284107373
AMAZON: http://www.amazon.com/J.D.-Tyler/e/B004XSWHY2/ref=dp_byline_cont_ebooks_1
GOODREADS BLOG: https://www.goodreads.com/author_blog_posts/8835494-chase-the-darkness-is-available-now-read-a-sneak-peek-of-chapter-1
TWITTER:
https://twitter.com/jdtylerauthor
NEWSLETTER:
http://jdtyler.com/lists/?p=subscribe
WEB PAGE:
www.JDTyler.com
PJ: Thanks so much for visiting with us. Is there anything else
you’d like share about your books or yourselves?
Suz: I’d like to take a minute to thank three people who
really, really made this book possible.
Cover Design: We all use Lyndsey Lewellen of LLewellen Designs
to do our individual covers, so she was an easy choice to do the sexy,
suspenseful cover. And I must say, cover design by committee for this project
was fairly painless!
Editing: Tanya
Saari, is who I use to edit all my books and I just love her work, so we scheduled
her to do our editing. Poor lady had to put up with us pushing back the editing
start date a few times! She did a wonderful job, not only looking for those
pesky typos and comma problems, but in keeping the book consistent throughout
all four stories.
Formatting: Mitch Rhodes of Libris In Caps had a huge job in
front of him. Often times readers pick up anthologies to read just the story by
their favorite author. (Hey, I do it all the time!) It was imperative that
these stories be read as one long book. Mitch and I talked long and hard about
how to lay this out to coax the readers into moving from one story to the next.
JD came up with the idea to make it Part 1, 2, 3 and 4. Then Jeanne, Nancy and
I sort of left the endings of our books open for JD to wrap it all up.
Nancy: We’ve
pretty much covered it. Thanks for
having us on the blog!
JD: Just to keep an eye on my social
media pages, particularly Facebook, my Goodreads Blog, and Twitter. If anything
new is coming up or I have an announcement to make, I’ll post it there first!
PJ: Would you like to ask our readers a question?
Suz: If you read anthologies, have you ever wanted to
read one like CAPITOL DANGER where the stories are so interconnected?
Jeanne: I’d love to pose the question to the readers
that you posed to us…Have you ever been to an inaugural, or would you like to
go? If so, what was it like? If you’d like to go, agent, guest, spectator,
or reporter? And who – real or imaginary
– would you want to take as your date?
Nancy: Do you
prefer law enforcement officers (in uniform or undercover) or spies?
JD: Is there a particular type of
hero or plot you’d like to see more of in 1) romantic suspense and/or 2)
paranormal?
Two randomly chosen people leaving a comment on today's post will receive an e-book copy of Capitol Danger.
National Bestselling Author J.D. Tyler is best known for her dark, sexy paranormal series Alpha Pack, and the popular Firefighters of Station Five and Sugarland Blue series under her pseudonym Jo Davis. PRIMAL LAW, the first book in her Alpha Pack series, is the winner of the National Reader's Choice Award in Paranormal. She's also been a multiple finalist in the Colorado Romance Writers Award of Excellence, a finalist for the Bookseller's Best Award, has captured the HOLT Medallion Award of Merit, and has been a two-time nominee for the Australian Romance Readers Award in romantic suspense.
A former marketing executive, Jeanne has also worked in interior design and landscape design as well as the funeral and cemetery business. Now a full-time writer and consultant, Jeanne lives in the D.C. area with her husband, children and dogs. She loves working in the garden, running with her dogs, hanging out with her family and Halloween. She really loves Halloween! Jeanne writes urban fantasy, paranormal romantic suspense and contemporary romantic suspense.
A former attorney, Nancy Northcott is a three-time Golden Heart finalist who has indulged her passion for history, adventure, fantasy, and science fiction since she was a young child. That sense of adventure comes through loud and clear in her books, along with a firm believe in romance happy endings. Nancy writes contemporary fantasy romance, historical fantasy and romantic suspense.
A former labor and delivery nurse, Suzanne Ferrell is now a full-time writer. The author of 13 novels and an Amazon best-seller for both her series, the Edgars Family Novels and the Westen series, Suzanne's books have been finalists in numerous writing competitions. She writes romantic suspense, small-town romance, American historicals, and historical erotica. She is currently working on more books for both the Edgars Family and Westen series.
