Stephanie Cage - Writer

I always love the Romantic Novelists' Association Conference, and this year was no exception.  The setting was Sheffield Uni's lovely halls of residence (yes, this picture really is the grounds of the University, although I think it could easily be taken for the Yorkshire Sculpture Park).  The company was, as always, wonderful, the seminars thought-provoking, the bookshop well-stocked and the goody bag generous.  My second picture is one of the books I bought - Jane Lovering's Hubble Bubble - together with the accompanying 'goody' - a pretty pink bath heart.  I was also lucky enough to receive in my goody bag a free book which was already on my wish list - Kate Morton's The Secret Keeper .    Standout talks for me a few weeks after the event were Julie Cohen's on theme, Catherine Jones' on character, Fiona Harper's on romantic structure, and Janet Gover's very hands-on session on TV and radio interviews.  I was able to put my newl...

Today I welcome Andrea Downing, whose Western romance, 'Loveland', is a finalist for Best American Historical in the RONE awards, to be announced in August.  Her second book, 'Lawless Love' is free on Amazon from 9th to 13th July.  Congratulations, Andrea, on both your books.  You must be thrilled!  How did you come to start writing Westerns?   I grew up on a diet of television westerns—The Virginian, Bonanza, Alias Smith and Jones, The High Chaparral…I could go on and on.   But they took me to a time and place that somehow seemed more appealing than the suburban New York that surrounded me, and cowboys have always been my heroes.   When my daughter was six we started having holidays in the West on ranches and I became very involved with the whole culture of the West, its history and its landscape.   It was an obvious choice for a setting for my books. ‘Loveland’ features an English heroine and an American setting.   Did you fin...

So, it finally feels like summer here in Britain, and we have a few things to celebrate.  For one thing, Andy Murray won Wimbledon, giving us a British winner for the first time in 77 years (at least, I'm told that's how long it is - strangely enough, I don't actually remember the last time!).  For another, it's warm enough to enjoy strawberries and cream outside in the garden.  And for a third, it's my publisher's birthday.  Crimson Romance is a year old this month, and have been kind enough to send their authors a lovely little gift of choccies in celebration. Here's a picture of mine - needless to say, the picture is now all that's left of them.  Thanks, Crimson.  They were delicious!  If you're a reader rather than an author, don't worry, there's something for you too.  For the month of July, not only do Crimson have a huge sale on, but they're also giving away a Kindle loaded with their whole year's supply of reading -- s...

Thanks to one of the lovely authors at Crimson Romance for sharing this bizarre but brilliant resource.  Have you ever struggled with writing a period story and wondering whether the language you're using is appropriate?  Struggle no longer!  For any word you care to enter, this website will tell you how many times Jane Austen used the word, and which related words she used, or did not use.  It's probably more of a game than a serious resource since it doesn't differentiate between different meanings of the same word (just try entering 'flowers' or 'red' and you'll see what I mean) but it's enormous fun and could certainly help steer a historical author in the right direction. http://www.writelikeausten.com

Sorry this photo's a little fuzzy, but I grabbed it on a whim at Steampunk Doncaster as Jonathan Green was about to start reading from his latest Pax Britannia novel, Time's Arrow .  The novel, featuring dapper daredevil Ulysses Quicksilver (a James Bond-meets-Oscar Wilde kind of hero) sounds like an absolute delight, but it may take me a while to get to it, partly because of my already huge TBR pile, but mostly because it's number 8 in a series I know I'm going to want to savour!  Jonathan was a great speaker, as was Meg Kingston, whose novel Chrystal Heart is now gracing my Kindle (if you're in the UK, grab it quickly at a bargain £2.99 as it will be back up to full price soon).  The heroine is a 188-year-old cyborg vampire, the cover features a hat almost as delicious as Meg's own, and I can't wait to crack the virtual spine on this one. I can't get over the excitement of having a Steampunk festival on our doorstep, and it was lovely to meet one o...

Today I'm delighted to welcome Sarah Grimm, author of 'After Midnight' and 'Not Without Risk'.  Hi Sarah!  I'm looking forward to hearing more about you and your books.  ‘After Midnight’ is a contemporary romance with a musical theme. Are you musical? Growing up our house was constantly filled with music. Whether it was The King and I or Anne Murray, Styx or Simon & Garfunkel, there was always music playing. We are a music loving family.   And on those rare occasions when the stereo wasn’t going, one of us was usually practicing for an upcoming band or orchestra performance. Me, I played the bass (string and electric). I was good at it, first chair. But what I always wanted to be good at—hell, great at—was playing the piano. I adore the piano, and it is that love that I put into AFTER MIDNIGHT. Can you tell us about the inspiration behind the story? Honestly? I have no idea where the story came from. One day – many, many years ago...

So... my second round of edits for 'The Santa Next Door' has gone, and I'm waiting for the MS to come back marked up with round 3...  Which means I have a day or two's breathing space, and time to talk to talented Wild Rose Press author Sarah Grimm in tomorrow's Writer Wednesday interview.  Don't forget to drop by tomorrow and see what she has to say about writing, rule-breaking, and early rising... By the way, I'm now booking Wednesday interviews for the rest of June and July, so if you're a published author and feeling chatty, please get in touch via my comments page, or facebook or twitter. Don't forget to include an email address so I can send you questions (and preferably a link to your blog, website or books on Amazon, so I have some idea what to ask!). Just in case you've missed them, this is my facebook writer page: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Stephanie-Cage-Writer/212877878754408 And this is my twitter profile: https://twitter.c...