Thicker Than Water

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 8^th 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:

http://amzn.com/B008U8NKCO

http://www.thewildrosepress.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=137&products_id=4930

thanks, Alicia for taking time out of your busy schedule to visit ith us today!

Best, Kat