a. I write to please myself. It's a bonus when others enjoy it too.

b. My mix reflects my contrarian/anarchic (not that I am an anarchist) inquisitive, irreverent world view.

c. I write what I know, and what makes me laugh, warts (not quite f*rts) and all. The world is too rich not to try and hold a mirror up to many elements, IMHO. I've been an alien, I've traveled with/dined with rockstars and aristocrats and white house secretaries of state. I dowse, I've seen strange things, I've tried a lot of uncommon stuff.

d. I try to throw in useful information (usually well disguised)... really useful stuff, funny stuff... also totally useless gems.

e. I love a challenge, so if someone says something can't be done, I like to have a go. There are rules I want to break.

f. Private Morality: I respect History and Geography too much to create imaginary kingdoms or dukedoms, or to fictionalize the lives and loves of real historical personages, so I set my worlds in outer space.

g. The Chess element is because I used to be a school chess champion, I teach chess to small children as a volunteer, I once played chess with the late Max Euwe (Grand Master, President of World Chess Federation)... also because the chess vocabulary is rich with the potential for double entendres, hero and heroine can play chess and learn a lot about each other --and converse-- Also, a chess title is less likely to have been used by another Romance author. I don't think anyone else has written about a Knight's Fork (my Sept 2008 title)


Larger roles?
Tarot... yes. It is a wonderful plot device, and such fun!!!!
Chess... not so much in Insufficient Mating Material, s/b back somewhat in Knight's Fork
Humor.... of course.

My heroes will not always be older, my heroines will not always be virgins. After all, the Forced Mate heroine was supposed to be the last Djinn virgin, so more cannot magically appear.

IMM is a survival romance, there's less rocketry and space tech, but the world building is scientifically sound.
2. What literary influences led to your writing of this novel?
Earliest romance/idea of perfect hero/wit (as opposed to scatological humor): GEORGETTE HEYER

Importance of research/fascination of research done and used well: ARTHUR HAILEY

worldbuilding: TOLKEIN, ASIMOV, DESMOND MORRIS

Ethics/responsibility of being a writer" GEORGE ORWELL (why I write.... and other essays)

Importance of humor/importance of good secondary characters: SHAKESPEARE

Dramatic monologue/really good villains: ROBERT BROWNING

Fantasy: GREEK LITERATURE IN TRANSLATION, Terry Pratchett, Tolkein

Trivia (the importance of including rich, subtle esoterica) MICHAEL CAINE (NOT A LOT OF PEOPLE KNOW THAT)

The courage to be anarchic/iconoclastic: MONTY PYTHON :-)

FORCED MATE is a futuristic re-telling of the Graeco-Roman story of the abduction of Persephone by Hades.It is also a spoof, taking every stock Romance situation, and turning into sit com. (of course, one cannot make a series of a spoof, so the next book had to be "serious" comedy)

I love historicals, and have considered writing a series of historical sf novels of milieu (where the place is the star). It would be sf because the place would be a mystical landmark.

My mother tells me I have a criminal mind. I'd love to write cozy (Miss Marple type) romances in outer space, if my psychic Empresses were to catch on. However, at present, if there is not enough hero-on-heroine "Romance" my editor sends the novel back to me for re-writing, with a strict limit on how many scenes the Empresses can be in.

RSF, SFR, and sfrE are the most popular R=Romance, SF is science fiction, E= hot sex.