Hard Tools and Vegas Boys

[click the question to see answer] We will start easy, what is your latest or upcoming Brava Bad Boy title? My latest Bad Boy title, Viva Las Bad Boys!, is an August release and is on the shelves now. I am not familiar with how anthologies get put together. Did you write the story to fit the 'bad boy' title or did your story get submitted and just happen to work into the 'bad boy' book? In general, editor Brava Kate Duffy asks authors to be in Bad Boy anthologies. Other times, authors get together and pitch an idea to her. And, sometimes, it's a mixture of both. My first novella Hardhats and Silk Stockings is in the Bad Boy anthology When Good Things Happen to Bad Boys. Hardhats was the first book I sold. The way I understand it, my editor had most of the anthology set with stories by Lori Foster and Erin McCarthy. The third slot had not been filled at the time my editor read my unpublished submission. She decided Hardhats fit in with the Bad Boys anthology already in the works and provided me with the perfect career launch opportunity. With Viva Las Bad Boys!, my editor specifically asked for three linking stories for a Bad Boy anthology. She left the subject matter and all the details up to me. After a few days of panic, I remembered a blackout my husband and I experienced while vacationing in Las Vegas and...viola, Viva was born. With the second single author Bad Boys anthology, the one I just finished and turned in (no title yet), I explained that I wanted to go back and write novellas for two male characters who appeared in Hardhats. In response, I received a request for another Bad Boy anthology, which meant coming up with a third hero who was related in some way to the other two. More panic...but it all worked out and the novellas are done. Do you read the finished book and is it hard to go back and read your own work after it is published? What bad boy tale would you recommend? For me, once a book is written it's done. I have a very difficult time even getting through the copy edits stage because, in my mind, the story is out there and changing it is like changing reality. Strange, I know. When writing the Bad Boys anthology I just turned in, I had to go back and read Hardhats to help connect with two secondary male characters there - Cole and Adam - so that I could write their novellas. The experience can only be described as surreal. I had several "I wrote this?" moments - as if writing the book somehow purged it from my mind. I am a huge fan of Brava and have been since before I started writing for the imprint. The Bad Boys anthologies are a special favorite. It's hard to pick a favorite - and, of course, everyone should feel free to buy mine :). If a reader wants to try one, I'd start with Bad Boys Online by Erin McCarthy. I fell in love with Erin's writing and humor thanks to this anthology. If you could write/sell anything... any genre, any setting, any plot, what would it be? Have you already written it? I write what I love. I'm not sure I could write anything else. My favorite mix is: romance and a touch of suspense or mystery with a backdrop of humor. Any time I can incorporate all three, I'm thrilled. What's Next? We are book whores give us names, dates and summaries! We have lists to make :). My next release is a Brava single title - Your Mouth Makes Me Crazy. The book comes out in July 2007 and centers of Kauai Police Chief Kane Travers and the naked woman who washes up on his beach. I do not have a definite release date on the Bad Boys single author anthology related to Hardhats and Silk Stockings, but I'm waiting... And, in even better news, my editor just offered me a three-book contract for three more single titles. So, they'll be more Brava from me in the future. Your Mouth Makes Me Crazy Her mouth should be a dangerous weapon. So should his—but for different reasons. Thrown together by chance—and a pair of handcuffs—they’re about to make Hawaii even steamier… NEVER LET ME GO Annie Parks came to Hawaii to gather information and settle a score, not spend time handcuffed to a sexy stranger’s bed. Okay, so this particular stranger saved her from drowning after she was pitched overboard by some goons. And he’s about six feet of hard, Hawaiian muscle and gorgeous cool that’s making forgotten parts of her say, “A-lo-ha!” She needs to stay focused, but a side dish of Kane Travers is awfully tempting. Kauai Police Chief Kane Travers is not a vacation kind of guy. So it figures that when Internal Affairs suspended him, he’d end up rescuing a sarcastic, dishonest, extremely hot redhead who is clearly hiding something. Amnesia? Yeah, right. Kane’s got half a mind to give Miss Whoever She Is something she’ll never forget. His cop senses tell him that the lady’s in deep and needs his protection. But how can he get her to tell him anything when all he wants is to take her home and do everything? UNTITLED BAD BOYS Kensington Brava, 2007 Three bad boys. Three house rehab projects. Oh, those men and their tools...