First, congratulations to Kassandra Lamb, who’s celebrating the release of Celebrity Status, book #4 in her Kate Huntington Mystery series. In Celebrity Status, Kate is now married to Skip Canfield, the man who patiently courted her through the last two books in this mystery series, and life is good. Skip’s private investigating agency, Canfield and Hernandez, may be doing a little too well, however. They have attracted their first celebrity client, a pop singer whose anonymous stalker has a twisted concept of love. Before Skip realizes just how twisted, he involves first his psychotherapist wife and then their lawyer friend, Rob Franklin, in the case.

Soon they are being hounded by paparazzi and someone is planting evidence to convince Skip that Kate and Rob are lovers. As they try to protect their relationship and family from this onslaught of unwanted attention, as well as a stalker who will stop at  nothing to remove the obstacles in his path, Kate and Skip struggle with the reality that you can’t always keep those you love from harm.

Kassandra kicked off a big blog tour on Monday, where she’ll be giving away an Amazon gift certificate, a signed paperback, and several e-copies of her books. More info at: http://kassandralamb.com/2012/11/official-launch-of-celebrity-status-were-having-a-blast-and-a-contest/

And now for the Next Big Thing

This one’s been around for a while, but it finally caught up with me. Stacy McKitrick tagged me with the Next Big Thing meme, where I get an excuse to talk about my next book!

Since I don’t know if my NaNoWriMo book will be publishable, I’m going to answer the questions about my upcoming release. Here goes!

What is your working title of your book?
Hangar 18: Legacy

Where did the idea come from for the book?
This book has actually been published before, as paranormal romance Nothing to Hide. A while back, I decided to rewrite it,  and rewrite I did – I didn’t even look at the original book. But the characters, their names, and the suspense/psychic abilities premise are the same, I just added the aliens (and improved on the writing). I got the idea for the psychic hero when my boss stopped by at work one day and asked me a question about the exact thing I’d just been thinking of. It was freaky, and I started to wonder, what if he could really read my mind? What if I was attracted to him? (I wasn’t; this is a romance writer’s mind at work. 😀 )  The alien part came many years later, when I started working at the base that supposedly housed Hangar 18, where, according to legend, the aliens and wreckage from the Roswell incident were supposedly taken. I wondered what if it were real? And what if, somehow, the aliens were still alive?

What genre does your book fall under?
Science fiction romance

Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?
I watch so little TV and so few movies, I honestly have no idea!

What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?
A psychic AF researcher and the skeptical developer of mind-control software must team up to rescue an imprisoned extraterrestrial thought dead for decades.

Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?
It will be self-published.

How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?
The first time, about six months. For the rewrite, maybe half that. But revision took a lot longer!

What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?
In its original incarnation, a reviewer compared it to Jayne Ann Krentz’s “gift of” series because of the psychic element. Of course now, the psychic is also a sexy Air Force officer.

Who or what inspired you to write this book?
The same things that gave me the ideas.

What else about your book might pique the reader’s interest?
Hangar 18: Legacy is a different science fiction romance, with a good bit of suspense and one very angry alien. There’s not a lot of tech in it, so readers who shy away from that will still find Hangar 18 accessible. OTOH, my romances tend to have a lot of other action in them, so I have had male readers enjoy them as well. Basically, Hangar 18: Legacy is about Adam Keller, a psychic Air Force researcher, who can sense the thoughts and emotions of others. Because of his gift, he keeps people at a distance. But when an angry voice demands rescue, dark thoughts of death and suicide threaten to overwhelm Adam, until he meets a woman whose emotions quiet, if not silence, the voice. All he has to do is risk his heart and engage his own emotions. Lisa Stark wants nothing more than to finish the subliminal messaging software she’s worked on for over a year. But when command cancels the controversial project, someone else wants it badly enough to kill for it. The only person who can save it and Lisa is Adam Keller, a man who’s as irresistible as he is crazy. Soon, not only is Lisa’s project at risk, but also her heart, and her life.

I’m going to weasel out of tagging others for this, because just about everyone I can think of to tag has already been tagged. But if anyone wants an excuse to talk about your Work In Progress, feel free to say I tagged you, and share!

Here are the Rules for The Next Big Thing Blog Hop:

***Use this format for your post
***Answer the ten questions about your current WIP (work in progress)
***Tag five other writers/bloggers and add their links so we can hop over and meet them.

Ten Interview Questions for the Next Big Thing:
What is your working title of your book?
Where did the idea come from for the book?
What genre does your book fall under?
Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?
What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?
Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?
How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?
What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?
Who or what inspired you to write this book?
What else about your book might pique the reader’s interest?
Include the link of who tagged you and this explanation for the people you have tagged.

Quick ROW80 Update: This month, my main focus is my NaNoWriMo novel. My weekly goal is to write 1,500 words four weeknights, and 3,000 words each on Saturday and Sunday. Sunday through Tuesday, I’ve written over 5,000 words, bringing my total to 23167 – right on track. So far so good!

What is WANA? It stands for We Are Not Alone, a guide to blogging, social media and networking for authors by Kristen Lamb. It’s writers helping writers, whether or not we’ve taken the course, and proving that we really are not alone!

What about you? Do you like mystery/suspense novels? How about with romance and aliens? If you are doing ROW80, how’s your week going so far? I’d love to hear from you!