I’m very pleased to welcome historical and paranormal historical romance author Lindsay Randall to the blog today. She’s published more than a dozen bestselling and award winning novels, and her most recent romance, Phantom, has been named the Reviewers Choice for Best Historical Paranormal Romance by RT Book Reviews magazine.
Lindsay, you sold your first book to a New York publisher when you were only twenty-four. What was that like, and what genre where you writing in at the time?
Thanks for letting me visit with you at your blog, Vanessa. I’m glad to be here!
That first sale was, in a word, amazing! My parents were avid readers and our home was filled with books, so being able to see one of my own stories on the bookshelves was a real treat.
It was also a watch-what-you-wish-for, because-you-might-just-get-it moment! Writing was no longer just a passion, but a profession. That was scary. It still is.
My preferred genre then and now is historical romance. I absolutely love history, and I enjoy the challenge of considering how a person’s world view might be shaped by the happenings around them.
Tell us about the books in your To Woo an Heiress series.
I’d love to! This e-book series highlights my favorite traditional Regency stories, all of which are “sweet” love stories filled with adventure.
Each book features an independent heroine who has been deeply influenced (for good or bad) by her father. My own dad was a constant light in my life. He taught me so much and shared so many things with me, so it was fun to create heiresses whose fathers were influential in their lives.
In the first book of the series, LADY LISSA’S LIAISON, Lissa is being pursued by too many suitors, all of whom hunger after her inheritance. In order to avoid them, Lissa plots a pretend liaison with the mercurial Gabriel Gordon, the sixth Earl of Wylde. She begins to panic, though, when Wylde turns the tables on her and makes the pretend liaison a reality!
The second book, MISS MARCIE’S MISCHIEF, is one of my favorites. It is a fun, lighthearted story about Marcie, a runaway heiress, and Cole, a marquis disguised as a coachman. Marcie’s mischievous ways soon melt Cole’s icy heart.
In the third book, A DANGEROUS COURTSHIP, Julian Masters, the seventh Earl of Eve, is determined to uncover the fiends who murdered his family and forced him to the brink of madness. Lady Veronica, founder of the secret Venus Society, is investigating a case that may hold the answers he seeks. Julian vows to shadow her every step until the truth is revealed. But this wounded lord uncovers more than just intrigue with his independent lady.
You also have a paranormal historical romance called Phantom. What’s it about?
PHANTOM is another favorite of mine and received a Reviewers Choice Award from RT Book Reviews. It’s the story of a man cursed to turn into a soul-stealing phantom every night at midnight and the beautiful healer who helps him fight the evil inside.
The hero, Dax, has been in my head (and my heart!) for a long, long time. I actually got teary-eyed when I learned that he was among RT’s Knights in Shining Armor “who will steal your heart with their courage and sensuality” There are two things I love most about Dax: his sexiness and his absolute love for Robyn. He’ll do anything for her (and he does!).
What’s up next in Lindsay’s writing world?
More historical romances! I just finished a graduate-level class on eighteenth-century literature, and I am now knee-deep in researching 1700s America. I’m excited to carve out characters that represent all those who helped create our country.
Sounds great, Lindsay! Readers, Lindsay is happy to give away a print or Kindle copy of Phantom. Just tell us about your favorite (or scariest!) ghost or horror story to be eligible to win!
Hi, Lindsay!
In my hometown, there was a place called “ticking tomb”. You could go to the cemetary and if it was quiet enough, you might **hear** the ticking. Going to an old cemetary in the dark is creepy enough, but when you’re on a mission and going with a group of teenagers…scary.
It’s believed the **ticking** sound is just the result of underground water…who knows?
Hi, Denise! I got chills reading this–and I would have been the first to run the other way, lol! I wonder what the water passes through to make the ticking sound. Oooh, it’s a neat story. Thanks for sharing! 😀
that area is where different plates of pangea were. underground streams and springs run through the rocks, so I assume that’s the reason. despite a big geology department at a local university, I don’t think anyone has thoroughly investigated. Of course, no one could disturb the cemetery itself, but the area outside it could be checked.
vcan’t believe I spelled cemetery incorrectly
I looked it up & pangea too, lol!
Wow-that’s so neat!
I am scared of everything! But there is supposedly a ghost haunting the cemetery where we drove by… scares me all the time!
I used to be so afraid of grave stones and cemeteries! Then I began to read the inscriptions and get caught up in the stories. A haunting, though, would definitely spook me!
We didn’t really scare each other very much w/ ghosts stories growing up… I feel like I missed out 😉 Ummm… I love the Odd Thomas series by Dean Koontz.
I haven’t read the Odd Thomas series, but love the powerful writing of Dean Koontz. Thanks for sharing!
During the summer we went to a camp and at night we told stories during campfire, scary and fantastic stories that drove us wild.
Your post took me right back to camp days–ahhh, how nice! I remember the warmth of that campfire, and then the cool, dark walk to the sleeping bag (with ghost stories in my head!).:D
For this year my scariest story was Die For Me. It was about a killer in the Bayou who butchers his victims. He cuts one arm 11times and the next one 10 times. Then staves them in their heart with a knife. He then places a single rose in their bind hands. They call him the Valentine Killer
Hi, Kristine. What an absolutely chilling story. (I won’t be going into the Bayou alone!) Thanks much for your comment!
like the Caspar the friendly ghost story
Hello from one Casper fan to another! I always watched the cartoon and devoured the comic books. Wendy was a fave of mine. Thanks for your post!
We used to scare each other with ghost stories around the campfire when I was a kid. I can’t remember the stories, just the being scared.
my fav is the movie 13 ghosts
Ghostbusters is my favorite ghost story.