• Suspense

    Suspense: A Fist Full of Ashes @rannsiracusa

    Fist Full of Ashes.
    Welcome to Romance Lives Forever, Ann. Tell us about your
    book, All for a Fist Full of Ashes.
    Author: R Ann Siracusa
    Genre: Romantic Suspense
    Amazon.comBuy Link
    Publisher: Breathless Press
    Cover artist: Staci Perkins
    Length (words): 97K
    Heat rating: PG, sensuous with a few explicit sex scenes,
    Tagline: A young tour director and a handsome spy take a fast-paced
    romantic romp through Italy
    in pursuit of a lost grave, an assassin, and a once-in-a-lifetime love.
    Blurb:
    I’m Harriet Ruby: Tour Director Extraordinaire. At least, I thought
    I was worthy of that title, until…
    My first mistake: Agreeing to conduct a private tour of Italy. Fourteen
    Italian-Americans from New Jersey?
    All family, for three weeks, with four teenagers? What was I thinking? Fate responds
    to my engraved invitation by placing one of the family under surveillance as a suspect
    in an assassination plot, and who is assigned to the case? None other than my favorite
    drop-dead-gorgeous spy, Will Talbot.
    My second mistake: Allowing Will to coax an invitation from the
    family matriarch to join the tour.
    And that was just the beginning. The matriarch, searching for
    the unknown location of her mother’s grave so she can bury her brother’s cremated
    ashes (which have been smuggled into Italy wrapped in Cuban cigars), and her quirky
    family members sweep through Italy leaving chaos, hilarity, and danger in their
    wake.
    What are your main characters’
    names?
    Harriet Ruby and Will Talbot
    Ages?
    Heroine, 25; Hero, 34
    Occupations?
    Harriet is a Tour Director for Adventure Seekers Travel in Rome
    Will is a Europol undercover spy and an ex-Special Forces contract
    operative for the US
    government.
    Interview
    Tell us about your latest
    book, including its genre. Does it cross over to other genres? If so, what are they?
    All For A Fist Full Of Ashes is the second novel in a romantic
    suspense series entitled Tour Director Extraordinaire. The lead characters are the
    same in each book, but the romance moves to a new level in each, while the external
    spy story is resolved.
    I’d say this is cross-genre because it is more than 50% suspense
    and less than 50% romance. It’s also humor. I could never sell to conventional romance
    publishers because my work is too action/story driven.
    Meet Harriet Ruby, Tour
    Director Extraordinaire
    Dead Man’s Leg
    She’s an intelligent, well-balanced but over-trusting young woman
    whose biggest problem is that she doesn’t have any real problems. For twenty-four
    years, her life has been good but predictable and ordinary. In book 1(All For A
    Dead Man’s Leg), Harriet takes a position as a tour director in Europe, but instead
    of being a trainee, she is responsible for a small group touring Spain and Morocco. All goes well until she and
    her group get lost in the medina in Tangier…and one of her tourists dies.
    Will Talbot, a handsome stranger and Europol spy in disguise,
    offers to help her smuggle the body out of Morocco. At that moment, Harriet’s once-predictable
    life turns upside down and will never be the same again.
    Little does she know that getting out of Morocco is only
    the beginning.
    Meet Will Talbot, Mysterious
    Spy
    Tall, dark and to-die-for gorgeous, this spy and ex-Special Forces
    contract operative for the US
    government has a troubled past, huge issues with trust and guilt, and a calling
    to rescue innocent victims.
    He’s everything perfect on the outside that a principled spy
    should be—intelligent, intense, self-diciplined, creative and intuitive, and with
    a great sense of humor to boot—definitely larger than life. But vulnerable on the
    inside and out of touch with his emotions.
    Nothing in his action-filled, dangerous existence could have
    prepared him for Harriet Ruby.
    Water And Fire
    Harriet and Will’s intense magnetic attraction to each other
    creates a volatile combination. Together, they experience hilarious misadventures,
    great sex, and life-threatening journeys in pursuit of murderers, smugglers, terrorists,
    and a once-in-a-lifetime love.
    All For A Fist Full Of
    Ashes
    In Book 2 Will and Harriet have been seeing each other for a
    year and have agreed to a no-strings attached, sexual relationship, but there’s
    no denying the feelings are far more than casual.
    They come together on the job in Italy. Harriet is conducting a private
    tour of Italy
    for an Italian-American family (fourteen relatives, for three weeks, with four teenagers).
    What was she thinking? Will has one of the family members under surveillance as
    a suspect in an assassination plot. He convinces the family matriarch to let him
    travel with the tour.
    The family matriarch, searching for the unknown location of her
    mother’s grave so she can bury her brother’s cremated ashes (which have been smuggled
    into Italy wrapped in Cuban cigars), and her quirky family members sweep through
    Italy leaving chaos, hilarity, and danger in their wake.
    How do you come up with
    ideas?
    My inspiration is world travel. My initial interest in traveling
    came about because, being an architect, I was interested in how earlier cultures
    expressed their values, ideas, religion, and social customs in the buildings they
    built. I never expected travel and writing to come together, but they did. Now,
    when I travel, I look for unique things about the location or culture and try to
    imagine what might happen under those circumstances that wouldn’t happen elsewhere.
    When I read a book, I want to go places I haven’t been and do
    things I’ve never done. I want to be someone else. When I write, I want to share
    with readers the incredible wealth of culture and tradition, of architecture and
    scenery, from other countries that I’ve been fortunate enough experience. So most
    of my stories take place in other parts of the world where I’ve traveled.
    Where do you start when
    writing? Research, plotting, outline, or…?
    Usually something I see, hear, or read sparks an idea. For example,
    when I took a hot air balloon flight over northern San Diego County,
    we were drifting silently over huge and expensive residential estates. Very remote.
    Suddenly we came over the tops of some trees and startled several people on the
    ground below us who never heard us coming. They were so close I could read the expressions
    of surprise on their faces. And I thought, what would happen if a person was taking
    their first solo hot-air-balloon flight and came upon someone burying a body? (That’s
    one I’m going to write someday.)
    Once I have an idea how the novel begins and a general idea of
    the ending, I think about what kinds of characters would be engaged by these circumstances,
    and come up with my lead characters.
    I write four or five pages of back story, delving into the circumstances
    which lead up to the inciting incident. This is when I might do some initial research
    regarding real incidents I want to use. Some of the back story it is the characters’
    background, but not like the character profiles some writers use. Sometime pieces
    of the back story show up in the actual novel, most of it doesn’t. It is information
    I need to write the story, but the reader doesn’t.
    After that, I prepare a one page outline that looks like a calendar
    – one box for each chapter, one sentence about what happens in each of the scenes
    in the chapter. Like a Story Board. Only the essential actions needed to move the
    story forward. “Joe kills Marcia.” I identify the plot points in the chapter
    boxes. Many authors use 3×5 cards instead, so the chapters/scenes can be rearranged
    at will to try out other ways to play out the story.
    Then, I actually start writing. Things change along the way,
    and sometimes they change enough that I have to change the story board. Most of
    the time, it’s figuring out how Joe is going to kill Marcia and what happens when
    he does.
    If you could give the
    younger version of yourself advice what would it be?
    You mean, besides telling myself, “You’re nuts!”? Well, it would
    be very hard to limit my advice to one or two things, since I have a long list.
    And, truth be known, I probably wouldn’t have listened. I’m sure I heard these words
    of wisdom from others along the way.
    First, I’d convince myself that my calling was to be a writer
    and not to put it off but start writing right away, which would include learning
    the craft, writing every day, and networking with other writers.
    Second, my advice would be “Run away from home!” Advice which
    wouldn’t have been practical or possible but might have prepared me for the difficult
    task of juggling even more plates in the air than I already had. The important thing
    is to set aside the time to write and stick with it, in spite of your family and
    your job. Don’t allow interruptions, even if it’s only fifteen minutes a day.
    Third, learn to write anywhere. Always have something with you
    and use whatever time is available to write.
    Fourth, learn to “write by the rules” first. When you master
    them, then you can break the rules by making conscious choices. Bottom line: Most
    of us have to pay our dues.
    Fifth, learn to take and use criticism, don’t get discouraged,
    and be persistent.
    Sixth, prepare a career plan.
    Are your stories driven
    by plot or character?
    My novels are about 60% plot and 40% character driven. I find
    it hard to separate plot and character. To me, fiction is all about people reacting
    to circumstances and each affecting the other. If I put one set of characters into
    a given situation or story idea, it becomes this novel. But if I put different characters
    into the same situation, it will end up a different novel because they react differently.
    The characters’ reactions, in turn, affect the action/plot. Chicken and egg.
    Family Secrets
    What do you hope readers
    take with them after reading your work?
    In my romantic suspense series, I want the reader to be transported
    to an interesting place in the world with exciting characters doing things and having
    experiences the readers wouldn’t have in their own real lives. In that process,
    I hope they’ll have fun and a good laugh or two and, at the same time, learn something
    about other countries and cultures. I want them to feel like they’ve been there.
    Nothing deep or profound, just fun, fast-paced, and sexy. An escape from the real
    world.
    I can do deep, profound,
    and emotion-wrenching novels, but those aren’t romances.
    List two authors we would
    find you reading when taking a break from your own writing.
    Dick Francis and Katie MacAlister. I aspire to write like a combination
    of those two authors. LOL
    A biography has been written
    about you. What do you think the title would be in six words or less?
    It’s The Journey That Counts
    If money were not an object,
    where would you most like to live?
    Half the time where I live now (in San Diego)
    and half the time in Rome.
    Rome is still my
    favorite city. I know that’s, in part, because I fell in love and got married there,
    but it’s also a great place to live.
    What song would best describe
    your life?
    I’m not sure the whole song describes my life, but the title
    does.
    I Wouldn’t Have Missed It For The World.
    As a child, what was your
    favorite thing about school?
    Chasing the boys at recess (that was in grammar school).
    Tell us an embarrassing
    story that has to do with a pet. If you have no pets, a story about a significant
    other will do.
    This is a story about someone else’s pet and my husband. Jerry,
    a friend of my two sons who lived about a block away, had a dog named Lady. Lady
    defied every effort to keep her locked in the back yard, and she really loved chasing
    things. She followed Jerry everywhere.
    One Sunday morning my husband was out watering the front lawn
    and along came a neighbor riding her bicycle. And in her wake, nipping at her ankles
    and barking, came Lady.
    My husband squirted water at the dog (and of course hit the woman,
    too) and yells, “Hey, Lady. Why don’t you go home?”
    Of course, the woman thought he meant her, not the dog. For years
    afterward, until we moved away, every time she and her husband drove past our house,
    she would point at it. You could tell by the way her mouth moved and her expression
    that she was saying unkind things about my husband’s rude behavior.
    If you came with a warning
    label, what would it say?
    Caution: Hazardous to your health.
    If I was a first time
    reader of your books, which one would you recommend I start with and why?
    You could start either with Family Secrets: A Vengeance of Tears,
    which is a stand-alone historical (WWII) Mafia thriller. Or, if someone wants to
    read the Tour Director Extraordinaire series (romantic suspense) it’s better to
    start with Book 1 – All For A Dead Man’s Leg.
    Please Fill in the Blanks
    I love pizza with pepperoni.
    I’m always ready for bed. It used to be because of the sex,
    now it’s because I’m old and tired. How life changes!
    When I’m alone, I write, quilt, or read…well, sometimes I
    try to catch up on housework
    .
    You’d never be able to tell, but I enjoy opera and classical
    music as much as I enjoy today’s rock music and riding a quad in the desert
    .
    If I had a halo, it would be pretty lopsided.
    If I could make the best
    seller list
    , I’d drop dead of shock (and delight).
    I can never know if there are planets in other galaxies with
    intelligent life
    because I’m not likely to live that long.
    My Booklist
    All For A Dead Man’s Leg – Book 1 in the romantic suspense series
    Tour Director Extraordinaire
    First Date – Short Story 1 in the romantic suspense series Tour
    Director Extraordinaire
    All For A Fist Full Of Ashes – Book 2 in the romantic suspense
    series Tour Director Extraordinaire
    Family Secrets: A Vengeance of Tears
    Books Coming Soon
    Halloween in the Catacombs – Short Story 2 in the Tour Director
    Extraordinaire Series
    A free read coming in October
    Destruction of the Great Wall – Book 3 in the Tour Director Extraordinaire
    Series
    Coming in November
    All In The Game
    Sci Fi Romance – Coming in November
    R Ann Siracusa
    First Christmas Follies – Short Story 3 in the Tour Director
    Extraordinaire Series
    A free read coming in December
    All For Spilled Blood – Book 4 in the Tour Director Extraordinaire
    Series
    Coming in February 2013
    Contests:
    I’ll be having a contest in relation to my two releases in November.
    It will be a drawing for a B&N or Amazon gift certificate and some other prizes
    including ebooks. Details to be announced.
    Find Me Here