Q. Are your anthologies a series? That is, are the stories in the anthologies The Eternal Highlander, Highland Thirst and The Immortal Highlander related?

My stories in the series stand alone, but the hero in the latest, Highland Thirst, is about the son of the couple, Eva and Connall, from The Eternal Highlander so you may want to read The Eternal Highlander first. However, I don’t think it’s absolutely necessary. Both stories stand-alone. And the story in The Immortal Highlander has nothing to do with the people in the other two except that he belongs to that clan. I try to make mine self-explanatory and stand-alone so that anyone who hasn't read the others won't be confused.

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Q. When will you do Armand’s story?

Armand’s story is scheduled for release August 31st, 2010.

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Q. When will Bricker be reappearing?

Bricker will be returning in Armand’s story as well as in Alex Willan’s story, which are both being released in the Fall of 2010.

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Q. Will Chris Keyes ever get his own story?

Chris will likely never have his own story. He's based on a real person, my editor at my previous publisher, Dorchester Publishing, and the real CK just hasn't found his life mate yet.

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Q. When will you do Christian’s story?

I do have plans for Christian but am not sure at this point when I will get to his story. There are a couple others before him.

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Q. Will Dante, Tommaso, GG, Marcus, Neil, Stephano be getting their own stories?

While I'm sure they will all get stories, I can't guarantee it just now or tell you when. It all depends on whether readers keep wanting them and publishers keep publishing them. I do have ideas, but we will have to see if they make it to print.

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Q. Will you give us more on Jean Claude’s story?

I doubt I'll go into too much more detail concerning Jean Claude. A lot has already been explained about his character in A Quick Bite and Vampire, Interrupted and how he affected Thomas, Lissianna and Marguerite.

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Q. When will you do Jeanne Louise’s story?

Jeanne Louise is being suspiciously silent. I did have an idea for her a while ago, but I guess the time isn't right for her yet, so she probably won't get a story for some time.

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Q. I realize she’s just a friend to the family, but will you do Mirabeau’s story?

Possibly.

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Q. Will Teddy Brunswick reappear in future stories?

Teddy may appear in future story(s) as Port Henry may be revisited but I just can't say for sure at this point.

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Q. When will you do Tiny’s story?

Tiny’s story is in the anthology Bitten By Cupid, which is scheduled for release December 29th, 2010.

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Q. Will you write another book about an Argeneau couple that’s already gotten together?

I don't go back and do books focusing on the same couple again. However, they do appear in future books as secondary characters.

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Q. What is Roberto’s relationship to the Notte family?

Roberto Conti Notte was the life mate of and married to one of Julius's sisters, Rosa. He gave up his own family, his name, and his mortal life to be with Rosa and become a Notte. By the time Rosa died Roberto had been a member of the Notte family for centuries. The Nottes are the only family he knows now and he was--and is still--considered a member of their family despite the death of his wife. Roberto is considered a brother to Julius and his other sisters even though, biologically, he isn't.

Roberto and Rosa had kids while she lived, they are half-siblings to his son, Neil, with Elaine and as far as they are concerned to Stephano as well (though he would disagree, but that's part of his story). Stephano was welcomed as a Notte the moment Elaine joined the family. She is now considered a Notte and even if Roberto died, would remain a part of the family. After a hundred years, they will probably think of her as a sister even though she biologically isn't. It's a function of the length of their lives and their relatively small numbers compared to the rest of humanity. But it's also a necessity amongst immortals. If they didn't think and act this way (for instance if they’d kicked Roberto to the curb when Rosa died) they would be raising the risk of those abandoned immortals becoming rogues.

Anyway, Roberto is still considered a brother to Julius, and his second life mate and any children gained through her have been embraced by the Nottes and are considered a part of the clan.

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Q. Why are most of your Argeneau characters Canadian?

I am Canadian and I know Canada. I write about locations that I have at least visited, as I need to have some knowledge about the area before I can describe it. I also lived in England for two years after meeting my husband who is British and visited other European countries which is where I got the research for the stories based in Europe.

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Q. Which order are the Argeneau books in, they seem to have been published out of order?

They were published out of order. When I wrote the proposal for the series it started with Lissianna's story, then Etienne's story, then Lucern's, then Bastien's. However, Dorchester, my publisher for the first three books, could only purchase three books at the time and chose the brothers. It was their choice to take the brothers and not the sister and their choice to publish them out of order. Now the series is at Avon and Lissianna was the first they published. From now on the stories will be in order.

The reading order is:

A Quick Bite (Lissianna’s story) – November 2005
Love Bites (Etienne’s story) – January 2004
Single White Vampire (Lucern’s story) – September 2003
Tall, Dark & Hungry (Bastien’s story) – July 2004
A Bite To Remember (Vincent’s story) – July 2006
Bite Me If You Can (Lucian’s story) – February 2007
The Accidental Vampire (Victor’s story) – January 2008
Vampires Are Forever (Thomas’s story) – February 2008
Vampire, Interrupted (Marguerite’s story) – March 2008
The Rogue Hunter (Garret Mortimer’s story) – September 30 2008
The Immortal Hunter (Decker Argeneau Pimms’ story) – March 31 2009
The Renegade Hunter - October 2009
Born To Bite (Armand's story) – September 2010
Bitten By Cupid - January 2010
Hungry For You (Alex Willan's story)– December 2010

Printable version of the Argeneau Reading Order

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Q. Do I have to read the Argeneaus in the order they were written?

I try to write all of them to stand-alone but some stories, especially one of the most recent stories called Vampire, Interrupted does bring in A LOT of characters from past stories. It may be difficult for someone who hasn't met them before to keep them all straight. I don't think you HAVE to, but it might be better if you read a couple of the other stories first.

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Q. What are the origins of the Argeneau name?

I came up with the Argeneau name from argentum, which is Latin for silver. In early times people were named for notable attributes (i.e. strength, blonde hair, etc.) and as the Argeneaus all have silvered blue eyes I decided their name would be based on this. They have had various versions of the name over time such as Argent, Argentis, Argento, and Argeneau depending on the time period and where they were living. I decided on the French version for the modern day family.

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Q. How do you pronounce Argeneau, Etienne, Bastien, Lucern?

Argeneau is Ar-zsa(as in Zsa Zsa Gabor, the actress)-no.

Etienne is spoken as Et-ee-en.

Bastien is Bass-chen

Lucern is Loose-urn

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Q. Why is Leigh missing from the family tree?

I have no control over what the publisher puts in the family tree. I gave them a family tree with everyone in it, and they made their own version, leaving out Leigh for the sake of space. The family tree here on my website includes her.

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Q. Why did you start writing about vampires?

The idea came while MSNing with some writer friends. One of them suggested doing a vampire anthology, with each of us doing our own take. With my track record in romantic comedy, I said if we did that, my character would probably faint at the sight of blood or something. I then threw out various other ideas. The anthology never came to pass, but the ideas lingered in my mind, taunting me until I sat down to start writing the series and the Argeneaus were born.

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Q. Why my immortals are not the living undead and how I came up with nanos.

The reason I had to find a reasonably logical explanation for how the vampires/immortals came about was that I just didn't like the idea of dead people having relationships with live people. I know it may sound odd, but I couldn't see how a soulless person could love anyone, so if I was going to write a vampire book, I needed to create a reason why my characters would be recognizable as vampires and would require a regular blood intake for sustenance and yet would still be alive. Nanos was my answer.

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Q. Why don’t the nanos keep immortal children from maturing?

The job of nanos is to keep the host at their peak condition, not to prevent their maturing so while the nanos will repair and rejuvenate immortals who are turned at a later age, repairing the damage caused by sun and environment and the simple passage of time, it will not prevent an immortal child from aging until they reach their mid-twenties to early thirties.

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Q. Can the nanos fix genetic problems?

Nanos do not fix genetic anomalies because they don't recognize a genetic issue as being something that needs repairing which is why Victor and Vincent both have to feed directly from donors as opposed to bagged blood . . . because it's a genetic anomaly that they have, not something needing repair.

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Q. Why the Argeneau series are not just romance.

Because that would be boring . . . at least for me it would.

I actually get a lot of readers who cross over from other genres. There are fantasy, horror and science fiction readers who all seem to like my books. I've also been pleasantly surprised by the number of men who read them and I sometimes wonder if my publisher would be better describing my books as something other than romances and then perhaps a wider audience would try reading them.

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Q. Your new books are called the Rogue Hunter series. How are they different from the Argeneau series?

This whole business of Argeneau series versus Rogue Hunter series is just kind of a pain. I never titled the first books The Argeneau series, the publisher did, and it made it difficult for me to write about secondary characters that weren't Argeneaus. But I wanted to, and finally just went ahead and did when I wrote Mortimer’s story in The Rogue Hunter. He, of course, is not an Argeneau . . . which put them all in a panic at my publisher’s in New York because the series is called the Argeneau series. So then they decided to come up with a different series title for this book and any others I do that aren't about Argeneaus (rolling eyes here). The truth is—for me—it’s just another story following the others. It features a character we’ve met before (Mortimer, one of the rogue hunters who helped out Leigh and Lucian in Bite Me If You Can) but also has Argeneaus and others in it and paves the way for future stories. Lord knows what they’ll do when I write about a character who is neither an Argeneau nor a rogue hunter. The series could have three names then. LOL

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Q. Why haven’t the Argeneaus been made into a movie or T.V. series?

Authors don't really have any say in whether their books get turned into movies. It's actually Hollywood and others in the movie industry who make the decision about which books to use. And while I'd love to see some of my characters on the big screen (played by the right actors and actresses of course) I haven't yet been approached by anyone making any suggestions that they would like to film my books.

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Q. Why can’t I get the earlier books by Dorchester (Single White Vampire, Love Bites and Tall, Dark & Hungry) in e-book format?

Unfortunately, I cannot tell you when or if the first three books (Bastien's, Etienne's and Lucern's stories) will be published in e-book format. That really is up to the publisher's discretion but we have let Dorchester know that our readers desire the e-book format.

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Q. Can you tell me what Argeneau books were published in hardcover?

The books that I know have been published in hard cover are as follows:

Rhapsody Book Club has:

Highland Thirst
Immortal Highlander
Bite Me If You Can
Vampires Are Forever
Accidental Vampire

Double Day Book Club:

A Bite To Remember
Vampires Are Forever
Highland Thirst

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Q. Are the first three books from the Argeneau series being republished with new covers?

Dorchester, the publisher of Single White Vampire, Tall, Dark & Hungry and Love Bites, has decided to repackage all three books to look similar to the rest of the series published by Avon.

Single White Vampire – reissue December 2008
Love Bites – reissue March 2009
Tall, Dark & Hungry – reissue December 2009

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Q. Who killed Annie? Who killed the pregnant mortal 50 years ago? Will there be another book in the Rogue Hunter series that will explain the unanswered questions from The Renegade Hunter?

There will be a next book, Armand's story, which will explain the unanswered questions from The Renegade Hunter. It is coming out August 31st, 2010. The two books are kind of intertwined like Vampires are Forever and Vampire, Interrupted. I was hoping they would be pubbed back to back like those two books were but, unfortunately, I don't have any say in these things. So you'll get the answers then, and I am really sorry about the wait!

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Q. What ever happened to Leigh’s baby?

Leigh lost her baby because of a genetic problem, which nanos will not fix. Never fear though, she will be pregnant again and that one will take.

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Q. When will Justin Bricker get his story?

Justin will eventually get his story but not quite yet. You will have to wait for his but in the meantime he will be the comic relief. Besides he’s pretty young yet and still enjoying life and all the liberties that immortality has brought him. He can handle a little wait.

 
Q. Will you do a sequel to The Loving Daylights?

I’m considering it though there’s nothing definite yet.

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Q. What were the names of the other stories in the B.L.I.S.S. series?

Two other authors published 'spy' stories under the B.L.I.S.S. series. One was Nina Bangs (From Boardwalk With Love) and the other was Lisa Cach (Dr.Yes). All of our main characters worked for the same agency, B.L.I.S.S., but that's where the similarity ends. Our stories aren't based on one another.

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Q. Will you do another historical and if so, when will it be out?

The next book called Taming The Highland Bride, will be coming out January 26th, 2010. It involves Evelinde's brother Alex d'Aumesbery and his bride to be, Merewen, the Stewart Shrew. Hard on its heels will be the third book in the Devil Of The Highland series called The Hellion And The Highlander, which is coming out February 23rd, 2010. This story involves Kade Stewart, Merry's brother who went missing during the crusades and Averill, sister to Will Montagne, the Englishman that helped Kade and his men escape.

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Q. Will you do another Pirate novel?

I'd quite like to do another pirate story, Lady Pirate was great fun to write.

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Q. What stories did Rolfe appear in?

Rolfe appears in The Deed, The Key and The Chase, which is Seonaid's story (Duncan's sister from The Key).

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Q. Will you do the story of any secondary character from your historicals to date? (ie Lady Helen and Rolfe from The Chase, Robert, Lord Ramsey's friend in The Reluctant Reformer, Osgoode from The Brat, Reginald from Love Is Blind)

I'm afraid the answer is No. I planned to write some but now that my historicals have moved to Avon, I can't write them. Dorchester owns the rights to the characters in the books I wrote for them. It took a lot of rigamarole and legal finessing to get them to release the Argeneau characters and I wouldn’t like to do that again. But I may write for them again someday, and if so, will surely revisit some of these characters.

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Q. Do you map out your stories or do you just let them come to you?

Each story has it's own rhythm and tempo. Some just flow in one burst of ideas, others start flowing, then have to be mapped out, and still others are mapped out from the start.

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Q. Do you get writer's block and if so, what do you do about it?

Occasionally, and when I do I tend to go to a coffee shop and write the old-fashioned way with pen and paper. It usually loosens the block.

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Q. I want to write a book, how do I go about it?

You sit down and write. It's that simple.

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Q. What advice can you give a writer that is stuck on a story?

I can only give you advice based on my own experience. If the story is going well then you'll know as the ideas will come faster than you can even write them. If, however, you have a problem with a story and it becomes difficult to write then you should do a few things.

First, take a break from it. Don't think about it at all for a while, live a little and then go back to it. Stories can't be forced. Well at least that's what I have found.

Second, if it still isn't going then maybe you have a problem with the story. Maybe something is not sitting well in your mind. If so, then resolve it if it can be.

Third, and I hate to say this as it is painful, but start fresh. Sometimes I've forced a story along and eventually it just comes to a jarring halt and I have to go back to the beginning.

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Q. I want to be a writer, should I try for an agent first, or try to get published first. And do you have any other advice for aspiring writers?

Hmmm, agent or publisher first... that's a tough one. Agents can be as hard to get as publishers. Harder sometimes. I tried to get an agent after my first book was purchased, but no go. It was my sixth book before I got one. On the other hand, a good agent can also be invaluable. Whether you go for one is up to you. A lot of publishers will not even look at a book unless an agent backs it. In fact, I only know of one or two who will. So, you might be best with an agent.

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Q. Do you have any advice for aspiring writers?

Start with a query letter. I'd suggest you go to the library and pick up a book called The Writer's Market, try to get the latest edition, one is put out every year. They have a section in there on writing query letters and who accepts unagented, unsolicited manuscripts.

And NEVER EVER take a rejection to heart. You have no idea what was going through their mind. Your hero may have the same name as their nasty, obnoxious, noisy neighbor, or the heroine could have the same name as the bimbo they caught in bed with their last boyfriend/girlfriend. You just do not know what turned them off. Heck, they might have grabbed a stack of queries on their way out the door to catch a plane to go see their dying parent and simply rejected everything they took because of their situation and mood.

And don't write for money. Good Lord, the average writer makes very little money. Make sure you are writing for love. If you love what you are writing, the reader is more likely to love it as well, and then the money is more likely to follow. Good Luck!

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Q. Why do your characters seem so real?

My characters are often based, at least partially, on real people so it's not so absurd to think of them as real people.

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Q. Your stories are usually pretty light… why don’t you write darker stories?

So far I can't do dark and dreary. Too depressing, and life is far too short for me to be happy deliberately depressing myself.

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Q. Why don’t you put more sex in your stories?

I can't do all sex because . . . well . . . there's more to life than that. Actually, I often used to forget to include the sex, or to put enough in and was asked to add more. Now I usually check for three sex scenes before sending it in to my editor.

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Q. How do you come up with ideas for some of your titles?

I suck at titles. The best ones have come from friends and my editors.

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Q. Do you plan to make your books available as ebooks?

Many of my books, both historicals and the Argeneau/Rogue Hunter series, can be found in ebook formats. The following links will take you to the specified ebook sellers.

Books on Board
Sony Ebookstore
Kindle Books
Ebooks.com
FictionWise Ebooks

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Q. Where can I find your past books?

All of them should be available online at www.barnesandnoble.com or www.amazon.com. Your local bookstore will also usually order books for you if you ask. Or you can go to www.dorchesterpub.com or www.harpercollins.com and order them directly from the source.

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Q. Can you send me a signed photograph?

I don't have autographed photos. I don't think authors do that. At least none of the ones I know do. That’s an actor’s thing I think.

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Q. What happens to story ideas sent in by readers?

My contracts stipulate that my stories are based on ideas wholly my own. Legally, I couldn't and wouldn't use ideas sent to me. That being the case, I have an assistant that goes through my emails and letters beforehand to make sure that I don’t inadvertently read other’s ideas. So if you send an idea in, I won’t even read it. Sorry!

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Q. Will you read my story?

No. I get this request a lot and I always have to say no. It’s for legal reasons. I’ve been advised not to read stories that are not already contracted to be published. Those I can read for quoting purposes. Otherwise, however, I cannot read stories.

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Q. My book is falling apart/missing pages. What should I do?

Any new books that are missing pages or falling apart should be returned immediately to the bookstore where you purchased it. They should exchange it for you.

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Q. Does Lynsay read any of the fan email?

I read most of the fan email.  Tori, my assistant reads all the fan mail and forwards to me only those which are considered ‘safe’.  Safe means any emails that do not contain story ideas, stories, unsolicited manuscripts and that are not deemed demanding, obnoxious, or rude. 

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Q. Do you accept manuscripts?

I do not accept unsolicited manuscripts of any sort. This is for our legal protection. If someone submits an idea that happens to be similar to a future novel, that person may feel that they are entitled to some form of compensation. The only way to ensure this does not happen is to destroy all unsolicited manuscripts unread.

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Q. Do you accept/read story ideas?

Do not send in story ideas because they will not get past Tori who destroys them and are unread for my legal protection. 

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Q. Do you donate to charities?

I will but I do so on my own time and of my own volition.  If you are requesting free things for your own purposes ("Can I get an advance copy of the next book?") it will not get answered.  If you are requesting free things for a charity ("We want you to donate a free book to our charity auction!") it will likely not get answered.  I get so many requests now that I don’t have enough books to fill current demand.  All requests are reviewed by Tori and those that are substantiated may get forwarded on to me.

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Q. Do you send out signatures or autographed photographs or books?

No.  I will only give out signed books and only at book signings now. 

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Q. Do I sign books that get sent in?

No.  The only way to get a book signed is by going to a signing or by winning one of my contests.

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