Distracting The Duchess – Vanessa Kelly, Author

I’m so pleased to have my pal and super-talented author Mia Marlowe visiting with us on the blog today. Mia writes passionate and wonderfully evocative historical romance. In fact, Publishers Weekly recently named her latest book, Touch Of A Rogue, as one of the Top Ten Romances for Spring 2012. Congratulations, lady!

Like many authors these days (including moi), Mia has branched out into indie publishing. Let’s find out all about that, shall we?

Mia, you have a very successful career in traditional print publishing, yet you’ve recently branched out into indie publishing. Why did you go this route?

It all started in 2010 when I began to write a serialized novella on my website called A DUKE FOR ALL SEASONS. Each month I added another chapter and invited readers to send in suggestions for which way the story should turn. About 6 months in, I found myself under contract to deliver 6 novels to 2 different publishing houses (Kensington and Sourcebooks) in a 15 month period. All extraneous writing had to go by the wayside.

But I always felt guilty about not finishing A DUKE FOR ALL SEASONS. I felt I owed it to my readers to let them know what happened to Sebastian and Arabella. So when I was able, I wrote the rest of the story and offered it as an eNovella last fall. No one was more surprised than I when it hit the Top 10 in historical romance on Amazon and stayed there for weeks.

Then when my agent negotiated the reversion of rights to several of my books from Dorchester, it seemed only natural to epublish those stories as well. I love writing for my NY editors at Kensington and Sourcebooks and am very happy to have one foot in tradition publishing and another in the brave new world of indie.

Two of your books, Erinsong and MaidenSong take place during the Viking period, but your other historicals are set during the 19th Century. Why such a spread?

I’ve always had a passion for history that isn’t limited to Regency England. I wanted to write some dramatic, epic stories of seduction, betrayal and redemption. The world of the vikings is just the kind of broad canvas I wanted for a backdrop. Readers who enjoy my Dark Ages romances will be pleased to hear that a third “song” book is coming this fall—DRAGONSONG, my never-before-published finale to the viking series.

I’ve also written stories set in 16^th century Scotland (SINS OF THE HIGHLANDER, Sourcebooks, Jan. 2012 with New York Times bestseller Connie Mason) and Victorian era London-Paris-Hanover (TOUCH OF A THIEF, Kensington, May 2011). I love the historical research that goes into my books, but it’s the story that’s most important to me. That’s why I’m not married to one particular setting.

What can you tell us about your upcoming book, How To Distract A Duchess?

In HOW TO DISTRACT THE DUCHESS, an artistic widowed duchess mistakes Her Majesty’s covert agent for her next nude model. Since my Victorian ‘James Bond’ needs the information he believes the duchess possesses, what else can he do? He blithely strips down, whistling ‘Rule Britannia’ through his teeth.

It’s funny, sexy and was a delight to write.

This story was first published in 2009 as Distracting the Duchess, but has been vigorously revised since then. I hope to have HOW TO DISTRACT A DUCHESS ready for your ereader in a few weeks. 😉

What’s this fab new indie publishing venture you’re involved in?

I’m so excited about this and it’s been so hard to keep mum about it, but now the cat is about to scratch its way out of the bag. I’ve been lucky enough to be included in a very talented group of NY published authors (included the fabulous Miss Vanessa Kelly!) who are also branching out into indie publishing. The list of authors reads like a “Who’s Who” of romance—bestsellers, award winners, and exceptional storytellers all! Ok, I’ll give. Here they all are: Monica Burns, Pamela Clare, Lila DiPasqua, Cheryl Holt, Vanessa Kelly, Kris Kennedy, Margo Maguire, Elisabeth Naughton, Sharon Page, Joan Swan and little ol’ me.

We’ve banded together to form Rock*It Reads, an eBook brand that offers readers a sort of “Good Reading Seal of Approval.” We’re committed to bringing the same high standards of writing, editing, and cover art to our indie works that we provide for our NY publishers. Check out what we offer at our website.

But that’s not all. There has been an explosion of self-pubbed works into the marketplace. We’re going to help you navigate the minefield of indie romances and find some real gems in our bi-monthly column for B&N.com. The kick off article is April 23^rd! Hope to see you there.

Thanks for having me here today, Vanessa. I’d like to offer a random commenter their choice from among my Rock*It Reads eBooks. Just answer the following question to be entered in the drawing. Is there a time period/setting that would cause you to absolutely refuse to read a story that lives there? What unique venue do you wish an author would choose?

Find Mia online at http://www.miamarlowe.com , at Facebook http://facebook.com/MiaMarloweFanPage and Twitter http://twitter.com/Mia_Marlowe.

Great interview, Mia! Thank you so much. And I can’t tell you how happy I am to be included with so many talented writers in Rock*It Reads!

I’m really excited to be featuring historical romance author Mia Marlowe on my blog today. Mia is such an interesting and talented person it’s hard to know where to start when talking about her work. In addition to being a fantastic writer, she’s a classically trained soprano who won the District Metropolitan Opera Auditions and even shared a stage with Placido Domingo. Wow! I wonder how many romance authors can boast that kind of claim to fame! BTW, the picture at the top of the post is of Mia, appearing as Rosalinde in Die Fledermaus.

Mia is now an award-winning author, who writes historical romance for several publishing houses. Some of you may already be familiar with Mia’s work from her earlier historical romances penned under the name of Emily Bryan. One of those books, Distracting the Duchess, was featured in the Best of 2010 issue of People Magazine. By the way, Distracting the Duchess is now available in reprint, which is really terrific.

Emily’s other books are Pleasuring the Pirate (awesome title!), Vexing the Viscount, and Stroke of Genius.

After writing these books, Emily switched publishers. In doing so, she added a few paranormal elements to her writing and, thus, Mia Marlowe was born.

Mia’s writing receives rave reviews. Library Journal named it “worthy of Shakespeare.” Publishers Weekly called her stories “charming, colorful and fast-paced.” Booklist says she writes “wickedly witty historical romance.” Her books have also received multiple awards, including the RomCon Reader’s Crown and RT BookReviews Reviewer’s Choice Award.

And here’s something that’s really cool! Mia will be writing a couple of books with New York Times bestselling author, Connie Mason. Their first book together will be Sins of the Highlander, set during the reign of Mary, Queen of Scots. Be on the lookout for this sure-to-be fab collaboration between two wonderful authors in January, 2012.

Mia’s latest book is Touch of a Thief. It has received wonderful critical acclaim, including this starred review from Publishers Weekly: “Marlowe weaves a gentle paranormal element into this delightful 19th-century romance. Both historical and paranormal readers will love this crossover tale.”

Here’s the blurb for Touch of a Thief:

London’s most talented criminal
is about to be fingered…

Lady Viola Preston can relieve a gentleman of the studs at his wrists without his being any the wiser and pick any lock devised by man in less than a minute. But she’s careful to wear gloves when she steals jewels. Because when Viola touches a gemstone, it “speaks” to her, sending disturbing visions–visions almost as unsettling as the sight of the cool-eyed stranger who catches her red handed.

Now Viola will only be stealing at Greydon Quinn’s behest. And even more daunting than the violent history of the red diamond he’s after is the prospect of a night in the devastatingly handsome lieutenant’s arms. Touch has always been Viola’s weakness and the full body-to-body contact Quinn has in mind is about to shatter her defenses and set her senses reeling.

Sounds awesome, doesn’t it?

Touch of a Thief is available at Amazon, in bookstores, and at other on-line retailers.

And in July, Mia will also have a novella coming out in the anthology, Improper Gentleman, with authors Diane Whiteside and Maggie Robinson.

Mia has very graciously donated a copy of Touch of a Thief to give away to one commenter today on the blog. Just tell me what you do with your old paperbacks—keep them forever, give them away to friends, or donate them to the library?

There’s more! In a nice bit of synchronicity I’m appearing today on Mia’s blog. Stop on by for a chance to win a copy of My Favorite Countess!