A nice concept, isn’t it? Happily ever after? You picture a couple, having overcome Important obstacles standing together, united at the end of the book, the past behind them conventionally represented as a full moon, the future looming big and bright, the coming dawn bursting with promise…and in the case of Blaze, a lifetime’s worth of smokin’ hot sex. But is this really the case? Is there any such thing as ‘and they lived happily ever after?’

One of the things we realized about ourselves early on is that while we believe in romance, we’re not romantics. And that we don’t really write ‘love stories,’ so to speak, so much as ‘stories about love.’ The prospect of creating a book where the hero and heroine pay a certain price, and receive love in return, is not only unappealing, it’s the most insidious of untruths. Never mind incredibly boring!

Having said that, at the end, the characters should have bonded in such a way that indicates the future does stretch before them as a couple…and that they now have the tools to face whatever problems may be in store for them down the road.

And, of course, if it’s a Blaze, then a ridiculous, copious amount of hot sex should be in the cards.

Hmm…then again, maybe that is the definition of ‘happily ever after…’ What do you think?

Oh, and if haven’t already, you’ll want to enter our on-line drawing for a decadent Greek Pastry Sampler from Tarpon Spring’s Grecian Village. It includes 2 pieces each of baklava, kataifi, flogeras, kourambiedes, melemakarona, and 1 saraigli. How awesome does that sound? Go to http://www.toricarrington.net to enter now. We’ll contact the winner for additional info on December 1st.
Good luck!

There’s nothing quite like the Blues to cuddle up next to on a cool, cloudy day like today. Such passion. Such longing. The music not only encourages daydreaming and wistful sighs and sentimental journeys, it requires them.

Click on image to watch a great video representation of A Sunday Kind of Love

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The genre also exemplies the emotions we strive to achieve in each and every of our Blazes. Whether it be the lighter songs like Ain’t Misbehavin’ or Love Me or Leave Me for our more comedic endeavors (and that’s relatively speaking, because both of these selections also have a dark side that I love jumping into with both feet creatively), or the heavier pieces like Trouble in Mind or You Don’t Know What Love Is for our more emotionally driven stories, we can always rely on the Blues to help set the right tone. Especially the ladies of the Blues. While Billie Holiday tends to be a little too dark (I end up getting pulled into her story instead of the one she’s trying to tell, although it could be argued that they’re one and the same), Etta James, Nina Simone, Dinah Washington, Sarah Vaughan and even more modern songstresses Norah Jones and Joss Stone transport you to a rich pit of emotion just begging to be mined.

So on this Sunday, we invite you to take a musical ride with us and see if you’re not equally as moved!

Visit us at www.toricarrington.net (this month’s on-line drawing is for a Greek Pastry Sampler to celebrate the sale of the next two hardcovers in our Sofie Metropolis series), www.sofiemetro.com, www.facebook.com/toricarrington, www.myspace.com/toricarrington and www.twitter.com/toricarrington.

Okay, we’re in deep immersion writing mode, which leaves little brain matter outside Facebook and blog posts for creative endeavors. So this month we’re posting an interview that appeared in the back of our March 2005 Signature Select Series reprint From McCoy, With Love. Hope you enjoy it!

Bonus Feature: Author Interview

When interviewed for this book, Tony and Lori were on holiday in Tony’s native Greece. Maybe it was the warm morning air, the chance to relax or the laid-back vibe of the country but whatever combination of elements were at play, we think you’ll find these personal reflections as inspiring as we did.

1. Tell us a bit about how you began your writing career.

Our career began with reading and love of a great story. I (Lori) have always been a voracious reader, beginning with Goldilocks and every printed page I could lay my hands on thereon. Tony has always been an avid movie fan, starting with the likes of the old spaghetti westerns and continuing with every genre available. So it was only natural that when a book or a movie moved either or both of us, we’d spend sometimes hours discussing it, what came after the words The End, how we might have changed the direction of the story, essentially not wanting the experience to end. So when in 1984 Tony suggested we try our hand at writing a story of our own, everything clicked perfectly into place. Here we are now, some thirty published novels later, happier for the experience.

2. Do you have a writing routine?

Since we write fulltime our days are pretty regimented. We write from about eight in the morning until one in the afternoon, break for lunch and a siesta, then are back in our shared office again by seven or eight at night until about eleven or so most every day. Half our evenings are devoted to keeping our extensive website (www.toricarrington.com) updated and chatting on line with fellow romance lovers and fans. It’s said that technology and the web serve to further isolate people. We disagree. We’ve met some of our best friends on line. And there’s something uniquely beautiful about meeting someone you’ve talked to for sometimes years on line in the real world. We have fans we call friends in faraway places like Pakistan, Bulgaria and Australia we probably would not have connected with outside our books. That would be a shame, indeed!

3. When you’re not writing, what do you love to do?

Everything! Well, short of jumping out of airplanes and rock-climbing. We love to travel and explore different cultures and towns and cities. And since Tony’s originally from Greece, we spend a great deal of time there, as well, soaking up all things Greek. We attend at least six major writing and fan conferences a year and have no problem putting work aside to schmooze with fellow writers and friends and to refill the creative well. We also try to carve out time either before or after a conference to get out and explore the local environs. Recently in Dallas after the Romance Writers of America’s annual writer’s conference, we spent the afternoon with a couple of longtime friends searching a nearby cemetery for Bonnie Parker’s — of Bonnie and Clyde fame – grave marker. We never did find it, but we had a hell of an interesting time looking. And it certainly isn’t an experience we’ll soon forget.

Reading, of course, is also a favorite pastime. Wherever we are you’ll find newspaper, magazines and all sorts of books littering the place. A hotel room? Brochures and travel books and local papers will be stacked on the floor and tables along with biographies of local interest. At home our to-be-read piles poses a direct threat to our health because they constantly seem at risk of toppling over on us. And, of course, it only stands to reason that the book we want is always near the bottom of those piles.

Kayaking is a newly acquired hobby. We were turned onto it by our Harlequin editor Brenda Chin and love everything about the feel of gliding on top of a body of water taking in nature and just enjoying feeling connected to everything around us.

4. The McCoys have a large fan base. What is it about these guys that keep readers wanting more?

If we knew the answer to that, all our books and the characters that inhabit them would be equally as compelling. Honestly, we don’t know why others feel the way they do. We can say how we feel about this family, however. And it begins with them being a family. They’re adorably dysfunctional and strong and each individual doesn’t think twice about coming together as a whole for the good of the family.

We will say that we’re endlessly flattered by the interest in these magnificent men and women. We’re incapable of writing a single, stand-alone book. Good characters always seem attached to other good characters, whether they be brothers and sisters or friends or the neighbor that lives up the way, our stories are colored with people that often demand stories of their own.

In the case of the McCoys, we began with Marc McCoy. We hadn’t planned for a series of books. We’d merely been searching for his identity and part of that included his being the often overlooked middle son of five. It was our Harlequin editor who called us up after reading License to Thrill to say, “You know Marc has four brothers, don’t you?” And thus our first miniseries was born. We so thoroughly enjoyed writing the books and exploring the minds and hearts of each of these stubbornly irresistible men that when we finished the fifth and what was then the final book, we were already thinking of ways we could continue the miniseries, if just for the sake of our own imaginations, you know, to keep these men very much alive in our minds and hearts. And so was born Kathryn Buckingham McCoy, the complete opposite of these men career-wise, but no less strong and stubborn. It was wonderful visiting with this remarkable, salt of the earth family again. And, dare I say, our minds are alive with ideas on how we still might continue the saga.

Circling back to what keeps readers wanting more, since our own reluctance to let go of certain stories was what inspired us to load our first sheet of fresh typewriter paper in an old manual IBM we bought at a garage sale for twenty dollars, we’re proud that our stories are now finding a special place in others’ hearts.

5. What or who inspires you?

For Tony, his first source for inspiration was his parents. His father Evaggelos Karayianni passed away in 1987 at 102 and was the quintessential Greek philosopher, imparting sage advice much like the Oracle of Delphi. If at first you didn’t understand what he was saying, you could be sure that one day you would. We’re still awed by advice he gave us long ago that we’re only now beginning to grasp. Philosophy for him wasn’t a handful of archaic words in a book to study for an exam; it was a way of life. And his mother Kostoula Kaloyeropoulou Karayianni found strength in hard work and her family. Salt of the earth. We miss them both enormously and we feel their presence always.

Also, everything and everyone we cross paths with inspires us. We hate to be so vague, but it’s true. Since we’re in Greece as we write this, I can tell you how just this morning we walked to the beach to pick up some fresh fish for dinner and on our way back we stopped to get some greens to fix along with them. The supermarket was just opening and it’s then you get a feel for how such a business operates by watching employees work together to get things up and running. There was a synchronicity that’s fascinating. A way of coming together to make something so large and complicated look simple and accessible. There was also an easy camaraderie between the employees that spoke of having worked together for some time, giving them a family feel (hmm, I’m seeing a theme here). As we watched from outside, the whole began to break off into separate entities and characters began emerging along with endless questions. The elderly man who handles the tomatoes with such care with gnarled fingers and smile grooves around his deep-set eyes, what has he done all his life? Does he have family? Live nearby? What does he do with his time when he knocks off work for the day? The pretty cashier, is she hit on by male customers? Does it bother or flatter her? Does she have a boyfriend who picks her up when her shift ends and do they go for a ride along the nearby beach before going home? Linger over baklava at a cafe? Who do they all love? What do they hate? Do they have dreams of possibly reaching out beyond the supermarket? Or are they happy there, working together as a family?

Sometimes we ask these questions when we have a chance (the elderly man is a widower from an island in the southern Aegean and used to sponge dive. He has five children, two of which now make their lives in the States with families and children of their own. He enjoys going for long walks by himself and passing the time in a nearby cafeneio with his friends drinking Greek coffee and contemplating politics and the world at large. The pretty cashier just broke up with her longtime boyfriend and is mostly flattered with the attention she gets. She dreams of designing her own line of clothes and takes night classes toward that goal. Both are happy with their present jobs). Sometimes we allow our imaginations to answer the questions.

Will the supermarket idea ever make it to paper? Maybe. Maybe not. But for us the time was well spent. Because for a little while we shared the lives of these people we all overlook as we move through our own lives.
So, simply, life inspires us.

6. How did you meet?

At a Greek diner, of course. In the East Side of Toledo, Ohio over coffee and baklava no less. It was a clearly defining moment – until then I believed “love and first sight” were words reserved solely for romance novels. Not anymore. The instant I met Tony’s rich brown eyes I saw my future stretched out in front of me like a strand of polished, precious pearls. I glimpsed breathless joy and happy years spent together. Of us sitting on a front porch swing enjoying the weather and each other well into old age. Neither of us could have imagined that now, twenty-two years after that first meeting, we would be where we are right now, doing what we’re doing. Sometimes it seems like a dream. Like we’re still standing in that diner seeing all this in each other’s eyes.
I like to joke that ever since learning about Greece, I wished I were Greek. Since that wasn’t possible, I did the next best thing: I married a Greek.

7. What book do you wish you had written?

We could write another book just talking about the books we wish we had written. While not every book we read qualifies – or perhaps they do because even when books disappoint they inspire conversation on how we might have written them differently – there are enough of them that to try to pick a handful would be too difficult to contemplate. Every book, whether it be fiction or nonfiction, a classic or a postmodern feminist day-in-the-life comedy, evokes myriad responses in us. When either of us reads a particularly good book by a natural talent, we may walk around in a reflective daze for days pondering what it was that made us think we could write. And ultimately we’re moved to reach farther, work harder, write better. A bad book also teaches us what not to do. But all books hold some message, some meaning that adds something to our lives.

8. What keeps you real?

Each other. Reality. Life. Whenever we start to feel a little full of ourselves, experience the desire to puff out our chests in self-satisfaction, something will happen to provide a much needed reality check. Recently our niece Matina had major surgery and three months after the procedure when we all thought she was experiencing a difficult recovery, she fell deathly ill. It was eventually determined that the surgeon had accidentally nicked her pancreas during the original surgery, sending her entire system off balance and into jeopardy. Following an additional three months in the hospital in intensive care, she’s thankfully well on the road to recovery but her struggle reminds us of how very fleeting life is. And how very lucky we are to be healthy and happy. And in the end that’s really what it’s all about, isn’t it?

Marsha Zinberg, Executive Editor, Signature Select Program, spoke with Tony and Lori in the spring of 2005.

This is also the time of year for kicking back between grilling sessions to indulge in a little summer reading. And boy do we have a couple of options for you there as well! This month, www.eHarlequin.com is offering up a reprint of our Code Red title TOTAL EXPOSURE. Sinclair Reid of Romance Reviews Today had this to say about the original release, “Tori Carrington writes a riveting story with potent characters and an attention grabbing storyline. TOTAL EXPOSURE is…a must read.” Click here for more info and to order the title in both book and ebook format from www.eHarlequin.com.

Wait! That’s not all. This month our August Harlequin Blaze UNBRIDLED is also available from www.eHarlequin.com. Here’s the blurb:

Shamelessly sexy. Totally irresistible…

Carter Southard is cooling his heels in jail when classy attorney Laney Cartwright strides in on her mile-long legs to spring him. Uh-oh. This naughty bad boy’s got even bigger trouble…. Because their attorney-client privilege is about to take a sizzling detour!

The sex is hot and wild—totally unbridled! But scorching the sheets is all this guy from the wrong side of the tracks has in common with an uptown girl…right?

Romantic Times gave it a 4 1/2 star review and says, “A sexy, wonderful hero, a smart, strong heroine and a terribly interesting story combine for a book readers won’t want to put down.”

Click here to read an excerpt and for ordering info.

Finally, on this sizzling 4th, we’d like to offer you a chance to be the first to enter our July on-line drawing for a Rustic Bucket Bath Set! The info is not even up on our website yet. To enter, just send an email to toricarrington2@aol.com with the word “Drawing” in the subject line. That’s it!

Here’s wishing you and yours an explosive holiday weekend! If you have a special memory you’d like to share, or an unusual recipe, we’d love to hear it…

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
aka Tori Carrington