Susan Krinard

Val Cache Courier

Issue #22
Summer 2004

Dear Friends and Readers,

Summer's officially here, though we had a May that seemed to suffer from a split personality, running from days in the 70's to 90's. Now we're about ready to enter the summer monsoon ... if we're lucky enough to get rain!

I love this time of year, though my writing schedule doesn't allow me to get outside as much as I'd like. Keeping my garden alive is always a bit time-consuming, especially in a year of hungry aphids. But our spring plantings have, for the most part, fared well, and I'm always excited when a new flower blooms.

My sleep apnea is finally being properly treated, I'm back to regular exercise, and the beasts are all in good health.

Current and Future Projects

I'm in the process of completing my first draft for next year's romance, To Tame a Wolf, which is due August 1. Immediately after that I'll begin the second in my fantasy series, Hammer of the Earth.

The cover for Shield of the Sky is now available on my web page.

I'm looking forward to the release of my Shield of the Sky. Some of you may feel you're not really interested in reading a fantasy novel, so I've included a little excerpt that introduces the ongoing romance in the series:

"No."

The command came in a language he had learned as a babe in the women's village. He scraped bloodied hair from his forehead and looked up in bewilderment.

The figure rose from the grass like a deva in human shape. At first it seemed almost invisible to Cian's senses, as if it were only an illusion of his fevered mind. The smell of burning all but eliminated the stranger's scent. It had blackened its face and hair with ashes, yet Cian's sharp sight detected enough of its form to reveal the clothing and gear of a steppe horseman.

But it wore no wolfskin, and after a startled moment Cian recognized what had so befuddled his senses.

The figure was female. A woman, well past her first blood, tall and broad-shouldered. The Wolfskins never carried females on their raids, save for prisoners; Cian had not seen a single one in their many days of travel from the Shield.

He glanced toward the fire, listening for the alarm. But the men continued to run about like insects disturbed in their nest, struggling with their panicked mounts.

The woman approached the cage on silent feet. Her carriage named her as no words could.

Free People. He had never expected to see a face like hers in what remained of his life. So far out of her territory, pursuing the Wolfskins ... he could think of but one reason she was here.

She had come for him.

Cian shrank into the corner, sick with rage and shame. This was his fate--to meet such a woman not in a mating bower but as a broken animal with nothing left save a wish for death.

"Ailu," she said, her voice rough with urgency. "Prepare yourself. I've come to set you free."

He hated her in that moment, but he could not look away from the determination in her gaze. "The fire," he said, finding the words from a darkened corner of his memory. "It was you."

"There isn't much time. Can you run?"

He tried to laugh. "Go, before they see you."

"Not without you."

He knotted his fists and willed her to despise him. "You should have let me die."

The woman cast him a glance of amazement, as if he had spouted nonsense. "If you die, I die."

"No." He bared his teeth in a snarl, pitiful remnant of defiance though it was. "I will not have your blood on my hands."

"You've enough of your own to worry about." She moved closer to the cage, and he could smell the richness of her skin, her perspiration, the undercurrents of horseflesh, steppe grasses and herbs. She curled a long-fingered, capable hand around one of the bars. "Stay back, and I'll break the lock."

If he had retained his full strength he could have forced her away with real threats instead of bluffs. "Tell whoever sent you that I am not worth saving."

She ignored him and began to pick and hammer at the lock with her knife. Out of the corner of his eye Cian could see that the fire was gradually coming under the Wolfskins' control. In desperation he did what neither pain nor starvation could have driven him to attempt.

He touched the woman. He reached through the bars to grasp her wrist, and it was as if a wind had risen out of nothing to sweep over and through him, scouring his coward's soul.

The woman stopped. She raised her head to stare at him, meeting his gaze with incredulity and confusion.

Cian lost all sense of time and place. The cage was no more. He and the woman stood on a hillside in the shadow of a mating bower. She wore a thin linen shift, though the morning was cool, and the wind molded the cloth to the body beneath it. A body strong and beautiful and enticing beyond his wildest imaginings.

I have come, he said to the woman, and lifted his hands to touch her.

I have waited, she answered. She placed her hands over his and pressed his fingers against the frantic beat of her heart.

At last Cian understood the call that his brothers had followed with such eagerness. At last he would know what it was to lie down with a female--a female as magnificent as this--and get her with a child of his seed. A child half of the Ailuri, half of the Free People, offspring of the devas themselves ...

His knuckles banged against the bars. The woman had broken free, and her eyes held only anger. Wind loosened her hair into a halo of black-streaked bronze.

Cian found his voice again. "Let me go," he begged.

She resumed her work with sharp, almost violent movements. "I'm taking you back."

Winners of the Kinsman's Oath Contest:

Mildred Bromberg
Laurie Bolanos
Tammy Basset

You'll be receiving your signed copies soon! (and it's strictly coincidence that all the names end in "B"!)

FAQ ...

In this newsletter I'm going to devote to answering a few commonly asked questions from reader e-mails. I have a section on my web page called the FAQ, which means "frequently asked questions." I haven't updated it in a while, but many of the questions are the same over the years.

Here are a few of the more recent questions:

Will you be writing a sequel to Prince of Dreams, The Forest Lord, Kinsman's Oath?

Will you be writing more werewolf books? Are you going to reunite the Forster family in a future book?

This question brings up a topic that many readers aren't familiar with--how little control authors often have over their own careers. We can plan and plan whole series, and the series may stop with only one book if we find ourselves in a position of having to change publishers in midstream.

This has happened to me twice in my career--once in my move from Bantam to Berkley, and most recently in the move from Berkley to HQN. Sometimes these moves are entirely voluntary, but sometimes they aren't. And if the new publisher isn't interested in picking up an established series or wants to start a new one, the author hasn't always got much say in the matter.

Since Prince of Dreams was a Bantam Book, two publishers ago--and it was not a great seller at the time--it seems unlikely I'll ever be writing a sequel, though I certainly set the book up for one. It's also unlikely that I'll get the rights back to Prince of Dreams or my first six Bantam books because of tricky clauses in my first contracts, so when these books go out of print, they may stay out of print for some time. Fortunately, Bantam has kept most of my books in print so far.

I will have one sequel to The Forest Lord (instead of the series I envisioned), and it should be out in summer of 2006 from HQN. It'll be Donal's story.

Unfortunately, since Kinsman's Oath was my last book for Berkley, I will probably never get to write the sequel I'd wanted. I did intend to bring Ronan's parents back in the second book, but I didn't foresee that Berkley and I would come to a parting of the ways when I was due for a new contract. I felt there was a great deal more to do in the "Kinsman" universe, but until the book goes out of print and I'm able to get reversion of rights, there's nothing much more I can do.

As for werewolves, HQN wanted me to write one more werewolf story, To Tame a Wolf, which will be coming out next year around June. It's the story of Sim Kavanagh, who appeared as a secondary character in Once A Wolf. Unfortunately, this story does not allow me to reunite the Forster family. None of my historical werewolf series gave me the right setting for that reunion, so it seems unlikely that it will appear in a published book. I may, however--if I ever have a break between contracts--write the reunion just for the readers who've been asking for it, and offer it on my web page. I just don't know when that will be. In my mind, the Forsters are reunited, and I had two sequel books planned for the children of Braden and Cassidy Forster. Given the uncertainty of any author's future, I can't predict whether or not these books will ever be written.

Believe me, it's just as frustrating for the author as for the reader!

What order should I read your werewolf books in?

The two contemporaries are:

The historicals are:

(All the above books are about the ancestors of books in the contemporary novels--the Forsters and Holts, with mention of the Gevaudans)

To Tame a Wolf (coming June 2005)
"Kiss of the Wolf" in When Darkness Falls

(These books are loosely connected; To Tame a Wolf features a secondary character from Once a Wolf, and "Kiss of the Wolf" is another werewolf family in Louisiana.)

I can't find the book Passion of the Wolf:

This was the original title of Once a Wolf, which was changed at the last moment by Bantam. If you have Once a Wolf, you're fine.

**I have Touch of the Wolf and Once a Wolf, but can't find Secret of the Wolf:**

Berkley recently allowed Secret of the Wolf to go out of print. It's likely they'll soon allow my other books to go out of print as well, including The Forest Lord and To Catch a Wolf. I recommend buying these books if you haven't already.

I'm embarrassed about the covers of some romances. Why do they have to have naked men (or women or couples) on them?

Very few authors have any control over covers. The publishers have editorial meetings to discuss covers of specific books, they pass their ideas on to the art department, who designs the cover, and the art department hires an artist to paint the main image. Sometimes I was consulted on the image, but at other times it was presented to me already completed. I can only hope for good covers!

This and That

Monk is back! And I loved the new series Touching Evil. Van Helsing was a real disappointment, but I enjoyed Troy in spite of so-so reviews, and am looking forward to Spider-Man 2 and King Arthur.

Reader Feature

This time I'm interviewing reader Estelle Goodnight.

Sue: First, tell us something about your background, family and interests.

Estelle: In the real world, I was a legal secretary for 37 years. In the little-paying world, I am an artist and jeweler. I work with stained glass and I bead and am the owner of a bead store in Massillon, Ohio, called Beads'N More. My husband is also an artist and professional jazz/blues drummer. I am interested in a myriad of things: art, music, literature, making the world a better place to live and, most of all, peace.

Sue: Have you ever had a desire to write a book? If so, what kind?

Estelle: Yes. Fiction, of course. Something beautiful, meaningful, and something that would leave the reader fulfilled.

Sue: Besides romance, what other kinds of books do you like to read?

Estelle: I love drama, espionage, and mysteries.

Sue: Who are your favorite authors, and why?

You. Nora Roberts -- who is so prolific I don't know how she does it, especially with her futuristic death series. Jeffrey Deaver, Harlan Coben, James Patterson, Iris Johanson, Patricia Cornwall, Laurell K. Hamilton, Nicholas Sparks, Faye Kellerman, Catherine Coulter, Mary Higgins Clark, and Kathy Reichs -- all because they know how to weave an intricate story.

Sue: If you could do anything in the world as a career, and make your living at it, what would it be?

Estelle: A jazz pianist.

Sue: If you could go anywhere in the world, all expenses paid, where would you go?

Estelle: Peru

Sue: If you had to choose another historical period to live in besides this one (the 21st century), when would it be, and why?

Estelle: I love castles so any period that had wonderful castles.

Sue: Would you rather travel in time, meet a supernatural character here on earth (a vampire, werewolf, etc.) or travel in space to distant worlds? Why?

Estelle: Meet a supernatural character here on earth. I am so intrigued by the idea and have been since I was a child. I've always been fascinated with wolves. They are very intelligent and mysterious. I think I always believed that there were such creatures -- although I wouldn't broadcast my thoughts on the radio as people already think I'm a little left of center.

Sue: What is your greatest ambition?

Estelle: To be able to touch people's lives in the hope of bringing about world peace in my own small way.

Sue: What are you most thankful for in your life?

Estelle: Everything! Even the obstacles, as they enable me to grow. I'm thankful that I'm healthy, have a great husband, home and that I'm creative.

Sue: Thanks, Estelle!

••••••

If you'd like to be the featured reader in a future interview, please contact me via email.

Have a great summer!

Sincerely,

Sue Krinard

http://www.susankrinard.com/
P.O.Box 51924
Albuquerque, NM 87181
KINSMAN'S OATH, Berkley Sensation, May 2004
SHIELD OF THE SKY, Luna Books, October 2004