Our inaugural Blaze Authors Blog post. Woohoo! First of all, we’d be remiss if we didn’t say…Tawny, girl, you rock! Thank you. You know why. And kudos to everyone who helped get this endeavor off the ground. We’re honored to stand arm-in-arm with our fellow TrailBlazers in a regular public forum. And how about these digs? Hot!

As for Editor Extraordinaire Brenda Chin…what can we say that we haven’t already? You complete us.

So being our first post, we wanted to touch on a subject that links our June Blaze BRANDED (available in book and e-book format at eHarlequin.com now!) to a general comment on writing, and, well, also offer up an apology of sorts for some of the liberties we’ve taken over the years. Liberties? All right, there are a few elements in a book or two or three that stretch reality a bit, if not fall solidly in the improbable column. In this particular case, we’re referring to the fact that in BRANDED, set in south-central Texas, when our rancher hero Trace Armstrong and wrangler heroine Jo Atchison get the proverbial itch while out riding the range at sunset, they don’t wait until they get back to the ranch. Rather things get hot and heavy right there in the big, wide open. (Native Texans are cringing right about now.)

Okay, I fully admit that when we originally plotted the scene, I paused, hundreds of imaginary imported fire ants marching around and up my internal editor’s feet. Mostly because I’d been warned, strongly, to keep my feet covered during one of our latest visits to Texas because the tiny, venom-packed insects roam freely there and preclude any barefoot strolls through the grass, much less any decadent rolling around.

But, damn it, we wanted this scene! Surely we weren’t going to allow a few pesky ants to ruin the sexy moment, no matter how destructive they can be. Besides, Blaze isn’t about real life, it’s about fantasy. And in this particular scenario, fire ants didn’t exist anywhere in the world, much less in the vicinity of our characters’ compromised behinds.

Of course, anyone who’s read us should be used to our taking these liberties by now. We’re the same writers who included a full out, blazing sex scene on the back of a moving horse (A STRANGER’S TOUCH, Blaze Midnight Fantasies, May 2002).

Hmm…funny, somehow we never get called out for these indulgences…

So you be the judge: patent violation of the writer’s code of proper conduct or a clear case of creative license? Post a comment with your answer and be automatically qualified to win the copy of A FEW GOOD MEN (Blaze Jan 2009) up for
grabs! (Oh, and in case you’re interested, we’re also offering up a great Spa Gift Basket in our monthly on-line drawing at www.toricarrington.net.)

We look forward to hearing your thoughts!

xoxo

Lori & Tony :-$ (H)
aka Tori Carrington