My interview with month is with Lynne Connolly.  Lynne is a truly talented author whose books I just know that I will enjoy no matter what.  This is saying quite a lot as she has books published in both the historical and paranormal genre. 

Welcome to Love Romances & More Lynne and thank you for taking the time out of your busy day to give our readers a chance to learn more about you.  Could you please tell us a little about yourself? 

Well I’ve been writing all my life, but I didn’t send a book to a publisher until 6 years ago. The book was “Yorkshire,” which has recently been re-released at Mundania. I’d realized that my disability (a long bout with arthritis) meant if I wanted to work, I’d have to do it from home. What better than to turn my favorite hobby into a career? Of course, there are hundreds of people thinking the same thing and I still can’t believe I was published!

I live in the UK with my family and my cats, one of them my Mews, Jack. He helps me write and he’s so good at right-clicking on the mouse! 

Would you mind sharing with our readers one tidbit that no one else knows?  Any secret addictions? 

Well chocolate is pretty much a given. Tea, I get bad tempered (we call it nowty in these parts!) if I don’t get my cup of tea in the morning!

And doll’s houses. I write with my two big houses in the same room, and filling them is a constant pleasure.  It seems to help my writing, too! 

Most authors are avid readers.  If I was to look through your bookcase what names would I find?  What genre was your favorite as you were growing up? 

I grew up in England, completely unaware of the US romance market, so authors like Linda Howard, Nora Roberts and Susan Elizabeth Phillips were completely unknown to me.

So for me it was Lewis Carroll, Alan Garner (the best writer of fantasy IMO), Tolkein, Dickens, and contemporary writers like Georgette Heyer, Nora Lofts and Mary Stewart. As well as Leslie Charteris’s “Saint” books and James Bond!

Now, as well as Howard, Roberts and Phillips, you’ll find many US based authors on my shelves. So many! Jo Beverley, Robin Schone, Suz Brockmann – I just keep reading and finding new authors!

I’ve recently discovered Tara Janzen’s “Crazy” books. They are such fun to read! I’m in love with Superman and Creed! 

Does your family support you?  And would you be proud or horrified if your family read your work? 

They are very supportive. My husband doesn’t object when I take off for a conference, and he is very supportive of my writing, although he doesn’t read the books. My daughter, who is 18, reads them, and she wants to write too, but she is also hooked on computer games like Final Fantasy and role-playing games. My son is just wonderful!  

I have to admit to being hooked on your Department 57 series from the very beginning.    All of your Talents be they a shifter, a sorcerer or a vampire are totally unique.  What was involved in deciding the ‘specification’ of each species? 

I decided to go with “nature” – no ‘magic’ in my books, no “with one bound he was free!” I started with a simple premise – I didn’t want my Talents to be super-human, and I didn’t want them to be elite in any way. So they are different, and they have their limitations. My vampires, for instance, only have their powers between sunset and sunrise, so although they can go out in daylight, they are like any other human, except for their telepathic abilities. I went with Darwin – Talents evolved alongside us, but chose to remain secret, because of the intolerance their kind attracted. I investigated a lot of mythical systems and decided which I wanted to use, and which I didn’t, and then thought of good reasons why these stories arose in the first place.

My shape-shifters are all mythical beasts – dragons, griffins, etc, not weres. There are so many weres about, and I didn’t think I could add to that genre.

Sorcerers are the nearest to mortals like us, but they have awesome psychic gifts. The most gifted are the virgins, but after they’ve made the choice to remain virgins and use their Talents, they risk losing their powers if they ever make love.

I wanted the “rules” to be simple and easy to follow, I didn’t want to get into explaining complex systems and hierarchies, so I’ve avoided those – in my books, it’s all about the romance! 

I have the strangest weakness for Cristos.  He is such the mystery man.  Is he based on someone you know? 

Not really. It was odd, that. My first book featuring Cristos was “The Chemistry of Evil.” I plotted out the book, with the male and female leads, and described Cristos as the boss. I didn’t even have a name for him at that stage. Then, when I got to the first scene – there he was. He just appeared. It’s magical when that happens, when a character forms under your fingertips. 

What came first, Department 57 or Cristos? 

Both at the same time. When he arrived, he came to find Evan, who is his stepson as well as his employee.  

If Department 57 was to be cast as a prime time series, who you choose for the main characters?  As you guess I am especially curious on the casting for Cristos but let’s not forget Dev or Josh. 

Oh that is so difficult! Cristos is the Sean Connery (now, not the young one), or William Peterson as Gil Grissom. Middle aged, but sexy and powerful.

Dev is the dark-haired Welsh wyvern of the first book, “Jewel of the Dragon.” He was always Pierce Brosnan (although Pierce is Irish!)

Josh, the blond footballer (the UK footballer) is, of course, mostly Beckham. I’m a Manchester United supporter (can get a bit rabid about it sometimes!) and Becks was a great winger for MU. But there are others, and once I get to write his brother Laurie, he’s more of the David Ginola type (my knees are wobbling as I write his name!) 

Who is your favorite hero in this series?  How about heroine?

 Always, it’s the one I’m currently writing. Really and truly. I’m as in love with the hero as the heroine, and I’m involved in her dilemma. I still love them when I’ve finished the story, but I’m already getting excited about the next one. 

Could you give a sneak peek in the next book in the series?

It’s the story of Svetlana Yevchenko. She is a top model, known in that world as Topaz, and she is a firebird shape-shifter. She is the muse of Jasper Lebec, the head of the House of Lebec, designer and businessman, but Jasper is also the head of the French branch of Department 57, so he’s a mysterious figure. In this book, you’ll find out what kind of Talents some of the Department heads really are!  

How long does it actually take you to sit down and write a novel?   

That depends a lot on how long the novel is and how much time I have to write it. I can sit and write one in three weeks, but usually it’s more like three months. So much goes into it, from gestation to research to plotting, and then afterwards, editing and honing it that the actual writing is only part of it. 

Lynne is writing your only profession or are you still working the day job to support the dream? 

Unfortunately, I don’t work outside the home. I say unfortunately, because my health won’t allow it. I have a rare form or arthritis called Behcett’s disease, which only flares up every so often, but it’s erratic and completely debilitating when it does. So I’m not a good employment risk. But I do have a family to look after, and books to write! 

If you were given the opportunity to write an anthology with any four authors, alive or dead, who would you pick and why? 

Scary! Robin Schone for sure, maybe Linda Howard, Linnea Sinclair perhaps. It’s difficult, because when you’re asked to contribute to an anthology, it’s usually the publisher who compiles it. 

What is your ritual for when you finish a book? 

Cheer, have a small Scotch and start writing the next one. 

I just have to ask this.  What does your office look like?   

It’s a sofa in the living room.  Two big doll’s houses, two cats, and a big TV. I can write through pretty much anything! I work on a laptop, which suits me better than a pc. 

Another have to question.  What genre seems to flow better from your fingers?  Paranormal or historical? 

Both. I think the variety helps to keep me fresh. I do love turning to one genre after writing another.   

Lynne, you have been writing historicals for quite a while.  What prompted you to delve into paranormals? 

I was asked! I loved doing the historicals, but after NBI folded, I was looking for a new publisher, and came across one who wanted paranormals. They encouraged me to try, and much to my surprise, it flowed so well I was hooked! I’ve always been interested in the paranormal, just never written about it before. 

Do you tend to outline everything in advance or does that put a stranglehold on your muse? 

I plot. My books are all some form of romantic suspense, so a tight plot is essential. I also believe in balance and pace, and that’s very hard to achieve if you just write it. I tried to write without a plot once, and spent twice as long doing it and crossed out far too much.  

Do you tend to write one book at a time or you always have a couple balls in the air? 

I concentrate on one book at a time, but I am sometimes plotting the next one.  

Do you have any upcoming works that you would like to share with our readers? 

I’m planning several series based on my paranormal “world.” I decided to split my world into two – ‘today’ and ‘tomorrow,’ but although the first book in the ‘tomorrow’ arc is written, it’s still touring New York looking for a publisher.

I’ve sold the Wildfire series, now called Pure Wildfire, to Ellora’s Cave. The first book, now heavily rewritten and called Sunfire, is coming out soon. These books are about the members of a shape-shifting rock band and have been an absolute treat to write. EC has offered me a contract on the second book, Icefire and I’m currently writing the third.

I’ve planned three other series, it’s just finding the time to write them!

On the historical side, the second Triple Countess book comes out with Samhain next month. It’s called “A Chance to Dream” and is about the yummy Orlando, the Earl of Blyth. I’ve sold Samhain the third book, about Orlando’s sister Perdita, and the first in a trilogy called the Secrets trilogy.  

What one piece of advice do you wish that you had listened to when you were first starting out? 

Hold on to your dream. I spent so many years avoiding writing and doing other things!  

Can you think of anything that I have forgotten that you would like to share with our readers? 

Not immediately, but that’s probably because I have a mind like a sieve!

Here’s where you can find me:

On the Samhain, Loose-ID and Ellora’s Cave reader loops, as well as those belonging to Uncial, Awe-Struck and Champagne books.

I have a newsletter, and there’s a free book in the files for you, an unpublished Regency. You can join it by sending an email to

mailto:lynneconnolly-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

My blog is at http://lynneconnolly.blogspot.com/

And my website is http://www.lynneconnolly.com   

Thank you so much for taking the time out of your busy day to spend with Love Romances & More Lynne!  

Thank you, it’s been great fun!