All three of the Taskill books are now loose and I'm
starting to hear from readers who have read all three. It's an amazing place to
be. I never even thought I'd have the opportunity to write three big books
linked this way and to see them popping up all over the world is making me
pinch myself.
Stepping back, I see that
readers are either loving the books big time…. or absolutely hating them. :) It's
not a bad thing, much better than middle ground reactions. I'd much rather
an emotional response (even if I really wished everyone liked them!) I've had several
emails asking me if there will be more Taskill books. I'd like that, I'd especially
like to write Ailsa's story. Ailsa was a secondary character in THE LIBERTINE
and I'd love her to have her own book.
Some readers who haven't enjoyed the books didn't seem to be
aware they are erotica, and one or two have been offended that the first one is
about a whore. I feel bad that people are offended. It's there in the cover copy though,
and I am the sort of writer who will try to address the gritty reality, even if
I'm writing a romance. Conversely, a couple of erotica readers complained there
wasn’t enough smut. Lol! It just goes to
show, you can't please all of the people all of the time, and it wouldn't be a
real world with human variety if we could do that.
One of the things I learned along the way happened when I
was guest blogging. I was quizzed about what specific genre the books are. I couldn't
really answer in short order, which made me feel like a dolt! The books are cross
genre, but can't be pinned down as (for example) erotic paranormal, because the
paranormal theme is not the main theme. They are historical set, but not focusing
on the historical. It was an interesting experience for me, because in all
honesty I just set out to write passionate tales during the period of the
Scottish witch trials -- adventurous stories where the characters would be
impacted by their place and time and circumstances, and how love and lust play
their own part in destiny. I rarely think about pigeonholing a genre beyond the
fact that my stories will always have erotic and romantic content.
As always, this writing journey teaches me new things about myself every
day!
In other updates, I can now share that the Taskill books will
appear in Finnish as well as Norwegian and Swedish. THE HARLOT is already out
in Italian and "Il Libertino" follows very soon, in June. And the
latest news is that HARLOT is now available in Russian. Here's the cover – an
amazing site for me to see!
In personal news I had some time out and I'm now working on
completing my current project, THE BURLINGTON MANOR AFFAIR, over the next few
weeks. Then I'm taking a proper break from writing for a few months. (That
pesky real life stuff putting demands on me again, how dare it!? ;o) I'll then
start work on my next HQN novel later in the year.
For those readers looking for the continuation of the Witches on Wednesdays series, it'll be back up and running soon.
