Good morning all!
Today Wild
Woman Author is pleased to welcome
Alicia Dean and Jake Devlin from Thicker Than
Water a romantic suspense short story, part
of the Curse of the Scrimshaw Doll series, released August 8, 2012,
by The Wild Rose Press.
Where are you from,
Jake? Covington, Oklahoma.
What is Thicker
than Water about? When
Julia Bennett’s childhood friend dies, she comes back home for his
funeral, only to learn there’s more to his death than meets the
eye. It appears someone from her past is gunning for her and her
friends because of a tragic accident that happened years ago. A
mysterious ancient cursed doll might or might not have something to
do with the events that unfold.
What did you think the
first time you saw Julia? I thought she was
the prettiest girl I’d ever seen.
And your second
thought? That I wanted to get to know her
better. That I couldn’t stop thinking about her.
Did you think it was
love at first sight? [At the time] I was a
teenager, too young to really know what love was, but I knew no girl
had ever affected me like that. I learned through the years that no
woman ever would.
What do you like most
about her? I love her resilient spirit. I
love that she’s strong, yet kind and loving, despite her unhappy
childhood and the tragedy she’s dealt with.
How would you describe
Julia? She’s beautiful on the inside and
out, although she doesn’t realize it. She thinks she’s not good
enough, that she doesn’t deserve good things to happen to her.
How would she describe
you? She’d probably say that I hold people
to standards that are too high. Maybe that I’m a little judgmental.
What made you choose
being a sheriff as a career? I hate it when
people are victimized. I want to make sure those who commit crimes
pay for them.
What is your biggest
fear? That Julia will be hurt. That I’ll
be the one to hurt her.
How do you relax, Jake?
I like to watch baseball and drink a few
beers.
Who is your favorite
fictional character and why? John Wayne’s
character, John Elder, in Sons of Katie Elder.
Because he risked himself for those he loved and fought for what was
right.
What is the best piece
of advice you ever received? My mentor,
Sheriff Burton, told me that truth was the most important part of
this job. But he warned me to not be blinded by what I believe to be
true and to always look for the real truth.
Now, it’s our turn to
ask Alicia: What movies or books have had an impact on your writing?
Gone with the Wind. Sweet, Savage Love.
Michael Connelly’s Harry Bosch series and Dennis Lehane’s Patrick
Kenzie series. There are others, but those are the ones that first
come to mind.
Kat:
Yikes!
Sweet Savage Love was
the first historical romance I ever read! Man, as I recall it was
about a man named Steve something, who also went by Esteban, and
Virginia [Ginny] something. It was set in the west but also Monterrey
California, Mexico and Russia. Hmm. Who knew another author would
like the same books as me, though I have to say I like Connolly’s
Mickey Haller much better than Harry Bosch.
But I digress, tell us
a bit about the Curse of the Scrimshaw Doll series. How did you hear
about it? I actually created it. I wanted to
encourage my fellow OKRWA [Oklahoma Romance Writers] chapter members
to complete and submit a story. Wild Rose Press wanted more short
story submissions, so I thought it would be fun to start a project
where we all wrote stories with a recurring thread. Brainstorming, we
came up with the idea of an ancient, cursed doll that appeared in
each of the stories, even though they would be written in various
genres. (This series is an ‘unofficial’ TWRP series, by the way,
one we did as a group of authors, although it wasn’t launched by
TWRP) I had no idea the level of enthusiasm I’d see from my chapter
mates, nor did I dream of the talent we had in our group, of how
successful the series would be. I believe we now have nine stories
accepted [for publication].
What influenced your
decision to submit to the series? I figured
if I was going to force—uhm, I mean ask--others
to do it, I should do it myself.
Is Thicker
than Water your first experience
writing for a series? No. A Knight
Before Christmas is one of three novels in a
Christmas trilogy I wrote with two other authors that was published
through The Wild Rose Press. I also have a self-published series, of
which I’ve released two books so far, Death
Notice and Death Offerings.
How long did it take
from query to release? Just under 11 months.
I queried at the end of September, 2011, and it was released August
8th of this year.
To learn more about
Thicker than Water and the stories Alicia Dean creates go to:
www.AliciaDean.com.
To purchase Thicker than
Water, go to:
thanks,
Alicia for taking time out of your busy schedule to visit ith us
today!
Best,
Kat
