Tuesday, December 20, 2011

Writing: What Works/Sales

When Night Falls

What works best in marketing books?

It’s all debatable. The topics on the table right now are: Titles, Reviews, Bonus Material, Benefits of Twitter and Facebook, and always Covers.

Right now, I’m dealing with replacing a blah title on book I wrote years ago and am now publishing in eformat. Not a clue why the publishers wanted that title, but blah, blah blah. I’m indy publishing, so I can darn well do what I want with it.

When the book is originally published in traditional or legacy as some term it, it will already have reviews under that same title. That means when the title is republished in eformat that the reviews generally go with it. However, when re-titling the same work, those reviews can be lost.

Reviews. The essential sales piece and correct format is also essential. If epublishing some reviewing site require so many stars on the reviews, 10 at one place. Some require say 4 5-star reviews, and then some require a book blogger review, etc. Getting readers to review means asking them for a slice of time they could use elsewhere. But readers/writers please review?

Which brings us to the Snarky Review. Ah, people. Reviews are Subjective, which means they are taken in and appraised by the very individual and personal preferences of people reading them. Sometimes the story flows with the reader's expectations/values whatever. Or maybe not. Or maybe their having a bad day and nothing is going to hit him/her right. (It's like that with editors, too. :))

But some people delight in ripping apart, putting down, for whatever reason. "It was so awful. Wallbanger quality" is interesting. Because usually, when questioned, the book was so awful that they read it completely through and could remember exact passages. Personally, if I read a book that is really awful, I'm not reading it throughout. So, something held that reader.

In a writer's world, a snarky review can be the unfortunate result of another writer's jealousy. Sorry, but it happens. Some people just delight in that.

Writers pick up a few callouses, or they should, and not take these snarky reviews to heart, so deeply that it disturbs their real life. On the other hand, a good, thoughtful review can be used by the writer as an evaluation of better writing in their next story.

If you have a Kindle, there is a handy application at the end of the books, which you can use to review or to simply give stars. I try always to do this.

Flashback

But back to Titles. Typically, a book is titled to its market. A women’s fiction book may have a softer title than a mystery. (Personally, I stay away from Death, Kill, etc.) But in ereading, a catchy title may suit that market better.

Which brings us to the different ways a book can be published, but under the same title. Many writers with reverted titles, such as moi, are using Lulu or CreateSpace, and other publishers to create trade paper books. Generally, that title has to fit somewhere on the Cover. Use too many words and you’ve lost impact. Because… the author also has to have their name large enough for repeat buyers. Plus sticking a nice quote from a reviewer on the cover somewhere adds interest.

Too many words in the title is generally troublesome. We want titles to slap into reader’s memory banks, so they’ll remember what to buy. We want reviewers to remember the titles.

The question of Bonus Material came up recently. Bonus Material refers that little extra kiss at the end of the book. Make that kiss too long and you’ll lose some readers. Too short and they’ll feel as if you didn’t deliver. I’m not certain how I feel about Bonus Material. I wonder if it might not be better as a short story, if it is epublished. But in paper, naturally, it would need to be included at the end of the book.

At the end of the book, after The End, ad work is essential, especially in epublishing. That’s where we splash Subscribe To My Enewsletter, my website and blog. Or, in the case of my MacLean trilogy, the titles of all the other books.

Enewsletters are invaluable. Generally this means a consistent reader, who cares enough to stay attached to what you’re doing. I’ve got a contest running right now on my enewsletter, just a simple drawing that ends Dec 30 for an epublished book, The Loving Season (The MacLeans) first of the MacLeans.

Which brings us to the best mode of promotion. It seems like everyone has their own preference. Free books is generally a super promotion, which nudges sales on more books. I don’t have any free books at the moment, other than the drawings I’m having for my ebooks at Twitter, coming up soon.

Twitter is excellent promotion ground and so is Facebook. Goodreads and others.

But exactly how much promotion can a writer do, and still write?

Every day, writers balance promotion and writing and generally life. Everyday, they make choices on the topics above.

I'd love your comments on them.

Monday, November 14, 2011

The Coupon Killer Short Story

The Coupon Killer is my first short story as L.E. Klein, another pseudonym. This may be a series, not certain yet. It's a humorous take on a woman detective and coupons. Since one member of my family is into coupons, this short story seemed logical. We sell our family off in pieces, you know. That's what Kathleen Eagle said during a speaking engagement and it's really true. My Potter-Daughter is just waiting for the "ax" to fall. :)

Here's the blurb on The Coupon Killer:

Short Story by L.E. Klein
L.E. Klein is a pseudonym for Cait London, also a pseudonym.
Meet Jenna Kowalski, a Kansas City suburb homicide detective. Recently divorced, Jenna holds her own in the all-male force. As the smallest, most agile, Jenna has been been hefted up, lowered down, and scrunched into places no woman should enter. She craves good bear-claw pastry, coffee, and Jose Morales, a co-worker. Her chances for the first two are good.
*** ***
A body found outside an alley dumpster has Jenna working a new case. The Body was a couponer, desperate enough to climb into the dumpster after them. The scissors found in her throat said someone didn’t like her. But then, as temporary lead detective, Jenna finds no one liked her, not even Maggie’s husband. The question is: Who killed Maggie? And can Jenna learn the ins and outs of couponing?
***
While I'm epublishing my backlist, I'm also writing new stories and taking a real look at covers. Here's a new one for When Night Falls, now .99 at Kindle.


When Night Falls is now .99 for a limited time at Kindle.

Currently, I'm working on Sleepless in Montana, placing it into eformat. But I thought you'd enjoy The Coupon Killer, an 11,000 word short story, .99.

With constant updates on my titles, you may wish to subscribe to my free e-newsletter. And if you have time, I'd really appreciate your comments about When Night Falls new cover.

Monday, November 07, 2011

Romantic Suspense


Flashback is now in Kindle format and soon in other formats. This is the 2nd of a string of romantic suspense.

Some reviewers list my suspense stories as thrillers. I don't think so. Story weight usually falls heavily upon the characters, romance included. My stories are lighter romantic suspense, which means I keep the blood/gore/cursing down to a minimum, while seeking who did what, i.e. murder.

It's a reader-preference thingie. My stories usually do have a cast of characters, which not all readers prefer. Some do like the spread of family, backgrounds, etc. involved, which I think makes the best setup for character-driven stories.

Character-driver as opposed to plot driven, which would be more mystery. I like the lighter suspense and character emotions, the relationships, the backgrounds.

Backgrounds are so important; motivations and need arise in the character from the backgrounds.

Some time ago, a writer-friend and I were talking about "flat" writing styles. That is, the characters were not fleshed out, at least enough for the reader to grip and dig into them. That gripping comes from a familiar experience or something human to latch onto, drawn from similar experiences.

Background accomplishes the, well, background, upon which to set the foreground, and the story stream, what drives the characters, what matters to them....


For instance: if a character runs his thumb over a scar on furniture, it may remind him of how he built that cabinet, with his father, just before his father was murdered. What did his father say in that scene, anything for the writer to "latch onto" and create a clue to the murder?

Some things matter big-time.

Addressing the romantic side now: It's about the Bed. I've written about this before, but watch for next time.... :)

Saturday, October 01, 2011

Here's The Loving Season

The Loving Season (The MacLeans) is the first book of the MacLean series.

Originally a Desire, it is now epublished for your enjoyment. I hope. We're working on Angel vs MacLean and The Daddy Candidate, books 2 and 3 now.

Here's the story:
Author Rating--Sweet/Sensual. First of MacLean series, published as Desire, 1989. The Wyoming B&B is filled and on a voyage of self-discovery after a bad marriage, Diana is re-routed to a ranch home. She's not expecting a bagpipe-paying grumpy rancher. But she looks like a stray and Mac is keeping her. He's determined not to love again, and with 2 grown sons, Diana isn't planning romance, or physical attraction. And then, guess what happens?

Mac needs a fake romance with Diana to throw the judges into his favor. He's in a chili cook-off and desperately wants the prize against an old-time chili-contest foe. With Diana in his corner, he just might win.

I love to cook and you can find all my homemaking stuff at MyJamJar, my other blog. I've been so busy writing and getting my older books into epublishing that I had to let that go. But there's plenty of stuff there about baking, sewing, squash, etc. And cookies, perfect for this time of year.

Last night I watched a program on bagels, so that may be coming up.

But for now, here's My chili recipe. It's loosely measured, as I'm a pinch of this and a scoop of that cook.:

Slowcooker:
Soak black dry beans through the night. (I see no reason to pay higher for canned, when you can make a whole slowcooker and use them as you go, i.e. tacos, chicken tortilla soup, etc.)

Cook until tender. Add browned hamburger (or not). Add tomatoes, canned or not. (I can my own.) Add 1 whole onion, chopped, garlic. Add green pepper.* (see below) You can brown the previous with hamburger., small can green chiles, then start spicing: chili powder, cumin, crushed red pepper, paprika.

Simmer for hours.

For variety, skip meat, add mushrooms, Rotel, etc. Top with Doritos, then cheese, or just cheese. Or chopped green onions. I like that fresh taste.

I think Mac's secret ingredient in The Loving Season (The MacLeans)
is not only Diana, but paprika.

What do you think?

Sunday, September 25, 2011

A Mountain Man Meets a Lady

Wild Dawn, one of my favorite American frontier books, written as Cait Logan, is re-appearing by Cait London :) BTW, I traveled to research, and the "dawn" overlay in the cover is actually the sunset taken from my home.

Here is my Dear Reader letter in the book, because to me, author's backstories are interesting:

Dear Reader:
As Cait Logan, I wrote several western historical romances, and category (series romance). I’m placing these into epublishing (as Cait London) for those who enjoyed them the first time, and those who are just discovering these lovely Northwest historicals. (I hope you read Delilah and the Mountie, one of my favorites, now available.) I traveled these trails and visited forts and vistas, and loved every minute of research.

Wild Dawn reflects how many bargain-made marriages began in history. To survive in Wild Dawn, and with danger all around Lady Regina, evil pursuing her, she must accept the mountain man, MacGregor’s offer of safe-keeping and marriage. While MacGregor is serious about marriage, he’s pretty rough around the edges, though he means well. But Regina only wants his help to get to safety. And then, there’s Jack, his adorable little son, just four months old and needing a woman’s care. MacGregor will fight to keep this English lady safe and safely wed to him... He’s in for a surprise with this “little woman”, set on escaping him and building her own life. For MacGregor and Regina, it truly is a new start, a new Wild Dawn.

I just love MacGregor, rough as he is. One of my favorite heroes, and I hope yours.
I also fell in love with the paisley shawl, a fashion of the day, and used that as a theme in a contemporary weaver’s novel, Tallchief for Keeps, a romance amid the Tallchief Silhouette Desire miniseries.

As an artist, I loved these written canvases and I hope you do, too.
....
How the mountainman MacGregor proposed to the English Lady Regina, who has been deserted and is starving in a mountain cabin is next....


He shifted his arm beneath the fur cape, the wind lifting the edges about his calves. “My son, Jack, is under this robe. He needs that cabin tonight, and I’m coming in. That fancy little gun won’t go through buffalo hide. The chambers are empty anyway.... Tuck it away.”

When she stared at him blankly, he nodded and took a deep breath. “I’d appreciate you asking me in. I’ve come a long way for you.”

Long legs shifted restlessly beneath the buffalo cape. “The Indians know you’re MacGregor’s woman—that’s me—MacGregor. I’m needing a woman for Jack, ma’am, and you’re the choice cow of the herd.”

“Cow?” she repeated blankly.

“Female... woman,” he answered impatiently. “You’ll find I’m not good with words.”

Stunned, Regina’s gaze slid down the tall man’s body, shrouded by the cape down to his buckskin leggings and boots.

A cold chill ran up her spine before she straightened her shoulders. Fear danced over her flesh like icy sleet. The mountain man had no claim on her; his arrogance caused her to remember her father.

“I’m a blunt-spoken woman,” she tossed back at him. “I haven’t heard of you, nor am I ‘your woman.’ If you have a child in your robes, show him to me and you may have shelter for the night.”

When he spoke the wind rose, penetrating the rags covering her feet. MacGregor’s black eyes sliced at her, and his voice reminded her of a castle mastiff’s growl. “No one doubts my word, ma’am. Jack’s tucked in snug enough, and I’m not bringing him out until we’re in the cabin. I’m done palaverin’—talking.”

He lowered his head deeper into the mass of buffalo fur. “I’m tired and my son needs that cabin, ma’am,” he said roughly. “We’re coming in. You’ve got the night to think about living or dying.... The way I see it is, you have four choices: You can freeze in that cabin this winter— alone... let the Indians turn you into a tribal squaw... or maybe some trapper will set you up as his property in a back room and hire you out.”

Then he added quietly, “Or you can marry me.”
....
MacGregor and the Lady Regina do not expect what will happen in this marriage of convenience.

I hope you enjoy one of my favorite stories.

Tuesday, September 13, 2011

Novel Interuptus

Novel Interuptus is well-known in writerdom. I coined the phrase, but am certain you know its source :)

Writers are also people, dealing with life and with a new little one in our family, I’ve been on a professional break while visiting. Thank you, Panera, for your sticky buns, coffee and Wifi. (Wifi, because we’re never quite unplugged, some business going on as usual.)

Just back from hiatus, I visited my favorite area group, Springfield MO’s Sleuths, a mystery group. Correction: hard-working group. This is a variety of writers, photographers, etc. Often groups have a high percentage of non-working members, just those attracted to those who are producing. Not so with this group.

It was a stirring, productive meeting with round of members reporting their publications. First, a workshop on producing origami mini-books by Beverly Crandell. I love these mini-books, developed from 8.5X11 paper, folded to make 4 pages with back and front. They are excellent for children, and great promo items containing teasers, website/blog info.

Next was Linda C. Apple, an inspirational writer and speaker. She’s dynamic, funny, informative, and above all, very professional.

I needed that connection to other writers.
Which brings me back to catching up. There are certain things that continue, while on break, and others left. I’ve found through my career that the people who deal with priorities fare better. As a professional right, I’m dealing with these issues now:
1. Rights Reversion from publishers (See Passive Guy for really good info on contracts)
2. Reworking my early attempts at epublishing. New software has developed and this is a steep, continuing learning curve. I credit Barbara Freethy and Kathy Carmichael as mentors.
3. Happy Day! I’ve finally gotten support in the form of a proof reader who is great, and she’s helping with #2. These reverted and scanned books are filled with errors and a drain on eyes. I’m floating now, happy with support. Learning how to ship manuscripts to her in Kindle form was one thing, and we’re learning how to work better together. I appreciate each and every comment she makes.
4. Sifting through what social media works for me and the comfortable ones for me. I’ve signed up for various URLs and test them. One popular Social Media is not at all comfortable for me because of their shifting policies. I love Twitter, though.
5. Redesigning a romantic suspense cover, When Night Falls, to match an upcoming title, Flashback. With a line of romantic suspense developing now, the covers should have identifying “look”.
6. Debating a publisher name for various material, separate from my pseudonym. If you have great ideas, please send? :)

What a learning process! I’m on a couple of professional-only loops, chockful of shared info. But there is great information everywhere.

To prioritize, choosing where to spend your creative (and your private-life time) is probably the most basic problem a writer has.

Or anyone :)

Monday, August 01, 2011

The Best-Selling Tallchiefs


Oldies and Goodies, that's what Harlequin has stashed in their Treasury section. (List Below)

You can find your favorite authors by placing Name Name Harlequin Treasury. Some of the following are a part of my Tallchief Series, and the order is on the postcard above. This series came out to 10, I believe, a best-selling series based on the contemporary descendants of a Scotswoman and a Sioux chieftain. The family of 5 was orphaned when the eldest was 18, and they stayed together. Each book is based on a legend concerning an item from Una's (Scotswoman) dowry, etc. Each family member set out to reclaim the historical item, and the legend comes true.

My editor at the time Melissa Senate (she's writing wonderful books now) was stunned when she saw my proposal (This for all you writers out there :)) I had no idea how to submit a series proposal and did all five at once, complete with legends and genealogy tree.

Since the Tallchief's parents were murdered in hold-up, I added 3 more books, based on the sons of the murderer.

The Perfect Fit, Typical Male (Harlequin Desire), Rafe Palladin: Man Of Secrets, The Groom Candidate, The Seduction Of Fiona Tallchief (Desire), Rio: Man of Destiny (Silhouette Desire), Blaylock's Bride (Silhouette Desire), Rio: Man of Destiny (Silhouette Desire)

Blaylock's Bride connects to Midnight Rider, Dan Blaylock hero. Midnight Rider will soon be placed in ereaders.

I was so pleased with the cover of Tallchief For Keeps, a single title set amid the Tallchiefs. The graphic is super.

I hope you'll enjoy these books and I look forward to hearing from you.

Tuesday, July 19, 2011

Laughable Book Cover Lore


Warning! Only those with humor may enter.

I've been thinking about this post for some time and now is the time.

In case you don't remember the dino-publisher days, there once was a cover, Christina Dodd's I think (best guess, anyway), where the cover model actually had THREE hands.

One of my covers beat that: It had 5 nipples between the fireplace bust, the hero and the heroine, whose tight blouse wasn't covering enough. I hadn't had time to really look at the cover when my daughter, her friend's family and I went to dinner. Where of course, I proudly presented my new cover. The infamous nipple-cover, shocking them.

Typically, writers don't have cover-say. They can input and sometimes the publishers are gracious enough to ask for comments along the development-way. But generally, those covers are the publisher's ball game and they play what they think will sell best.

Some years ago, a distributor (there used to be a lot of them back there in dino pre-ereader days)spoke at a writers' conference. He held up covers and explained what sold. And since back then, the field was most men, his descriptions were those of an insider male-distributor.

At the Edge, the first of my psychic triplet Aisling trilogy, would have been labeled, Hand on Thigh and Face in Throat (translated: Kiss of the Vampire). While At the Edge is a recent romantic suspense, back then, we saw a lot of hand on thighs. People, it is not erotica, despite the look.
Wild Dawn
is now in epublishing, and if you read it, please do leave a review? This is an early historical backlist, written as Cait Logan. I've epublished it as Cait London, in keeping with my other stuff.

Said Distributor, who was great to authors, BTW, called this The Bored Woman pose. Or--God, how much longer is this going to take?

We're coming to my favorite. Hold on....


A Lady's Desire
is now in epublishing, which a nice male back always serves sales. But notice Lady on the Line, a backlist Cait Logan, not yet available for epublishing.

Lady on the Line, my very first published book a Berkley Second Chance at Love, is about a woman lineman fighting her own in a basically male-dominated field. Poor Lady. She's what the distributor tagged as "The Nursing Woman".

I have to agree. She's pretty enhanced, but that was what he said appealed to the distributor-buyers (back then :))


Here's a good one in his list of what appeals to male distributors. "Put a horse in it," he said.

I notice we're still using a lot of horses today. They are loveable. Pretty big, brown eyes.

Placing a story element on the cover is usually recommended. Or not.

Titles are probably the most grabbing and now there's some neat graphics out there, really super stuff.


The Aisling trilogy is available either in paper, or in electronic form everywhere. I loved this trilogy and somewhere earlier in my blog, I started interviewing the sisters who, because of their special gifts, could not live close to each other. A Stranger's Touch made the NYTs extended.

The two covers after At the Edge were hero/heroine faces kissing, unicolors. I liked those better and I loved the Aisling trilogy. Really, really loved the individual stories and the story threads/arc that ran to the end. I'm so hoping you read it. And try to read it in order:
1.

2.

3.




About those face/body covers....


Call me weird. No, wait. Don't.

But cut-off heads drives me nuts. I know they bother other readers, too, so I'm not alone. (I hope.)

Then, the leg covers. They only remind me to exercise more and that my days walking on spikes are over.

The need for a striking cover can change the writer's story. Or rather, they change to story to match the cover.

For example, I could not have a hero with gray hair, because the cover artist couldn't manage that. I had to rewrite Tame the Fury really fast, because the cover artist made a mistake: my heroine's blond hair was already black on a cover run, and I had to change all the references from hair like say, gold as the wheat field, to whatever.

That error did enhance the book and I wrote the poem, My Highland Rose, to go with the story, the heroines black hair. But that was panic time as the print run was scheduled.

There's more in Book Cover Lore, fantastic funny stories. But that's it for now and I hope you enjoyed the ride....

Tuesday, June 28, 2011

Construction of a Paragraph

When Night Falls, Romantic Suspense.

With all the buzz going around about Harlequin's letter to those "actively writing", I'm sure you'll want more information on that. I belong to Author's Guild, a necessity for published writers and Ninc. Both provide excellent information and help.

Keep in mind that once a contract is signed, that's it. But the translation of terms can be extremely quasi, depending on who's doing the translation.

Then, there's Passive Guy at The Passive Voice, who has a lot to say about everything professional, especially e-rights and self-publishing which top sellers, are leaping into, a real must read. And very intense. I mean, A Real Must Read.
Those are my 2 high points as if this date.

Wild Dawn, Western Historical. Now .99 for a limited time

Secondary, but highly important to writing is paragraph construction. I just went over this with a writer-friend. She believed that if someone is still speaking, all dialogue within successive dialogue, should be in one paragraph.

As I update and edit my early books, I'm finding that I had the same editorial problem as many do today: placing dialogue amid paragraph narrative.

So let's go there: 1.) If dialogue is placed within paragraph narrative, it loses impact. 2.) However, (there's always an exception) if it is quoted dialogue, it's a quasi deal, depending on feel. Feel is really important, but we're not going there today.

First paragraph basics:
*In dialogue, Jane's voice can be tagged by action, such as, "I can help you." Jane looked directly into Mary's eyes, and took her hand. "I really can. Just tell me what happened."

When Mary looked away and withdrew her hand, Jane knew she couldn't lose this one brief opportunity. "Mary, please tell me."

!Let's take this apart. We know Jane is still speaking in both paragraphs by placing a tag line. Action can do as well. But see what is lost in impact, when running the dialogue together:
"I can help you." Jane looked directly into Mary's eyes and took her hand. "I really can." When Mary looked away and withdrew her hand, Jane knew she couldn't this one brief opportunity. "Mary, please tell me."

NOTES:
!Jane is still speaking, and tag lines define who is speaking.
!A tag line can be the name of the other person, i.e. Mary. If it is, no other motion, tag line is needed.
!Now. In a running conversation, tag lines define the speaker. They are not needed for a 2-4(maybe) of short repartee.
!In today's books and epublishing we are looking at shorter paragraphs than years ago. In some paperbacks, (choosing them for size demonstrations), one page can consist of 2 paragraphs. That's a lot to wade through and hold today's readers' attention. We move fast now, chugging right through excessive wording.
!The Ultr-Most important point in dialogue is that the reader knows who is speaking.
Back to Jane's dialogue: In the middle quote, Jane is pressing Mary, thus her reinforcement for impact.

So what about structure of the paragraph for Impact?

The structure of a paragraph, the beginning/middle/end sentences, is highly important.
One of my characteristic rough-draft problems, and everyone has them, is writing for the gusto, getting that story down and alive. (If you're a dreck-writer, be proud. It takes dreck, actually getting the story down on paper, to create a story. Then edit. I need a T-shirt that says, Dreck Writer and Proud of It.)

In rough-draft narrative, I sometimes place the most important sentence of a paragraph at the end, or at the beginning. This is one of the first editing skills I learned. A former editor taught me to place numbers over each line in the paragraph. It's a decision of which should lead, which should end. The weight of the sentence determines its placement. Thus, sentence 3 may really belong in position One. Especially if sentence 3 applies more to the previous paragraph.

By using this method, the construction is more orderly. Excess, superfluous sentences are also recognized. Superfluous Guys cut impact; they absolutely sink it.

So how does one paragraph fit within the chapter, the book?

Ordering paragraphs within a chapter is also important: those building emotion, those dropping dead body/twists.

Sentence Tip: If you have more than 1-2 clauses within a sentence, look at it critically. Watch clauses beginning with to/thats/whens/thens/ands/buts, etc.

I mentioned The Feel of the story.

But that's for another post :)

Sunday, June 19, 2011

The Aislings: Psychic Triplets

I love my Psychic Triplets, Claire, Tempest, and Leona. They're available now in either paperback or ebook form. If you haven't read them yet, I hope you will.

The Aisling Triplets are descended from an Ancient Celtic Seer and the Viking Chieftain who captured her. Each has a unique gift, so unique that the sisters cannot live near each other, or their thoughts will cross... and someone is determined to kill them.

At the EdgeRomantic Suspense Books)
A Stranger's TouchContemporary Romance Books)


For Her Eyes OnlyLiterature & Fiction Books)

A world class pyschic, their mother, Greer Aisling appears through the individual stories, loaded with these triplets psychic gifts.

Claire, the youngest and most vulnerable, Tempest (Who made the NYTs) who's a handful, and Leona, the oldest and fiercest of the three, each have their own romance with that killer in pursuit.

Claire's gift is that of picking up other's thoughts; Tempest has to wear gloves, because she can feel the history of an object and know the thoughts of those who held it; and Leona, sees flashes of the past.

Try putting all those psychic talents too close and you've got a lot of trouble.

If starting to read The Aislings, I suggest starting with Claire in At the Edge.

I loved writing this trilogy, each with a different setting, a different psychic talent and romance, and always with that stalker at the ready.

To learn more about the Triplets, please hit the Triplet Tag....