Spotlight Sunday - Jillian Stone

Today, our visitor is Jillian Stone, a wonderful debut author of dark Victorian novels with a fantastic and original voice. Her debut novel, An Affair With Mr Kennedy, comes out January 31st 2012 and is available for pre-order on Amazon. Please help me welcome her.

I'd love to find out a bit about you as a writer. When did you decide you wanted to be a writer?

I have always been a storyteller and have been fortunate to work in the creative arts my whole life. In 2005, I experienced the loss of three deaths in my family. If anything jolts you into getting on with the work you are meant to do in life, it is the realization that we are here on the planet for a brief moment in time––so best get your stories told! 

I can understand that drive to get a manuscript complete and polished. After that was done, how long did it take you to publish your first novel? 

About three years. In the year I was marketing the AN AFFAIR WITH MR. KENNEDY manuscript, I wrote another novel, THE SEDUCTION OF PHAETON BLACK, a paranormal, steampunky story about an eccentric occult detective who lives in a basement flat below a brothel. On a layover in the Dallas airport on the way to RWA Nationals in 2010, I received "the call" from Kensington Brava editor, Audrey LaFehr, offering a contract for Phaeton! Oddly enough, my first book offer came before I had an agent or had won the Golden Heart for AN AFFAIR WITH MR. KENNEDY. Such a strange business!

That does sound pretty crazy. Now that we know a bit about your writing, let me ask some fun questions.

What is your favorite dessert?  

A coconut cream cupcake from Zov's Bakery!

Ooh, that sounds yummy! Speaking of yummy, let's move to a subject near and dear to all romance writers (and readers) hearts. Men. 

What most attracts you about a man?  

His mind and his sense of humor. I look forward to the day when men return the compliment!

Lol. Anything else you'd like to share? 

Just to give thanks to all the many wonderful editors and writers (April Dawn included) who have helped mentor me through the process of becoming an author. 

 Bio

Jillian Stone was born a storyteller. A skill that got her into considerable trouble as a youth until she solved the problem by becoming an advertising creative. And the career did seem to suit her as she won many national ad awards including the Clio and the New York Art Director’s Club Gold. What more could she ask for? Create her own worlds? Become goddess of her own universe? Yes! So, she began to write fiction. Her Victorian Romantic Suspense novel AN AFFAIR WITH MR. KENNEDY won the 2010 Golden Heart and sold to Pocket Books. Her sexy, supernatural Steampunk novel, THE SEDUCTION OF PHAETON BLACK, won the 2010 Romance Through The Ages Erotica category and sold to Kensington Brava. Jillian lives in California and is currently working on the next adventure for both series.

 An Affair With Mr. Kennedy

London, 1887. Part stoic gentleman, part fearless     Yard man, Zeno “Zak” Kennedy is an enigma of the first order. For years, the memory of a deadly bombing at King’s Cross has haunted the brilliant Scotland Yard detective. His investigation has zeroed in on a ring of aristocratic rebels whose  

bloody campaign for Irish revolution is terrorizing the city. When he discovers one of the treacherous lords is acquainted with his free-spirited new tenant, Cassandra St. Cloud, his inquiry pulls him unexpectedly close to the heart of the conspiracy and into the arms of a most intriguing lady.

     And Cassie is no Victorian prude. An Impressionist painter with very modern ideas about life and love, she is eager for a romantic escapade that is daring and discreet. She sets her sights on her dour but handsome landlord, but after she learns their meeting was not purely accidental, she hardly has a chance to forgive her lover before their passionate affair catapults them both into a perilous adventure.



We're having a holiday blog hop, so be sure to come back Dec 16-23 and comment on the blog hop post to have a chance to win an Author Signed, Advanced Reader Copy of this book. And one grand prize will be given away for one lucky commenter from the whole blog hop. A Nook Color. So be sure to check it out.This contest has concluded.

Spotlight Saturday - Carolyn Jewel

On Saturdays I'll spotlight another historical romance author. It might be an excerpt, an interview, or anything else like that.
Today we have Carolyn Jewel, and author I've been reading for some time now, and just had the pleasure of meeting. (A serious fan girl moment. lol)




Okay, first a few questions.

When did you decide you wanted to be a writer?

I always wanted to be a writer. At least, I can't recall a time when I didn't. It took me a while to move from "want to be" to "actually writing" though. Since that's not a very interesting answer, I'll say I was 26 when it finally occurred to me that if I wanted to be a writer, perhaps I ought to try to write something.

Someone once gave me a hard time for saying "writers write" because it seems so dang obvious. And it is. But the truth is the people who never make that step between "want to write" and "actually writing" far outnumber the people who do. 

That's so true. It took me some time to get from writing for myself to writing for publication. I think it's one of the most difficult steps for a writer to take. So, when you'd finally chosen to write, how long did it take you to publish your first novel?


Two weeks.

My first publication story is at once atypical and proof that it takes luck and timing. At 26, as noted, I started writing my first novel.  A year later, all I was changing was the punctuation so I figured I must be done. I duly got myself a Writer's Marketplace, made a list of likely agents and editors, ranked it, and decided I could only take two rejections at once. I mailed out two queries.  I am a wee bit dyslexic and, as I learned 6 months later, I reversed two numbers in the address on one of them so it never got there. However, two weeks after I mailed the queries, I came home to a message on my answering machine to the effect that this woman thought she had an offer on my book, would I please call her?

Well. OK! It turned out that someone who wrote for a Romance line at St. Martin's Press had not turned in her novel on time and they had a gap that needed to be filled ASAP. And guess whose query letter hit this agent's desk just as she was given this news? Yup. My book was good (so I like to think) and my query crossed the right person's desk at the right time. My third book, by the way, was substantially harder to sell than books 1 and 2. I didn't have a Sophomore Slump. I had a Junior Jinx. Heh. It was several years before I sold my 3rd book.


Lol. A Junior Jinx, I like that. And what an awesome way to make a first sale! That really is the dream for most aspiring writers. 
Now that we know a bit about you as a writer, let's talk about you as a person. What is your favorite dessert?

Pretty much anything with chocolate.


Ooh, chocolate is my weakness. I'm trying to lose some baby weight from my one year old, and chocolate is always my downfall. My hubby doesn't help. He always brings chocolates, which is probably one of the things that attracted me most to him. What do you find most attractive in a man?


If his name is Arjun Rampal.

OK, seriously. Intelligence.

Ah, two important qualities. And of course, it always helps to be Arjun. lol. Anything else you'd like to share?


My love for Arjun Rampal? It's kind of embarrassing, but there you have it. From Rampal to Bollywood movies. Wow. Talk about writing inspiration.


I know how much you love Arjun Rampal (in fact, readers can visit Carolyn's very own Arjun Rampal fan page.)Thank you for visiting Stockings and Stays, and sharing your love of such a hot hottie with us.

About the Author

Carolyn Jewel was born on a moonless night. That darkness was seared into her soul and she became an award winning author of historical and paranormal romance. She has a very dusty car and a Master’s degree in English that proves useful at the oddest times. An avid fan of fine chocolate, finer heroines, Bollywood films, and heroism in all forms, she has three cats and a dog. Also a son. One of the cats is his.

• More About Carolyn Jewel 

  One of my favorites, Lord Ruin, has been re-released as an ebook!

  Digital Vendors

  • Kindle
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• The eBook is the same as the original mass market paperback, with new art and, of course, in digital format. Links to various vendors below.
  Carolyn Jewel, February 2011
  ISBN: 978-0-983-38260-7
  The Duke of Sin
  The Duke of Cynssyr didn't believe in love. He planned to marry for beauty. But a night of unforgettable passion left him a changed man -- a man tied to a bespectacled spinster. Anne Sinclair's long legs drove him wild with desire, and her quick wit challenged his mind. Ruined for any oher, the notorious rake had only one choice; to court his wife. To win her condfidence, however, nothing less than his love would do.
  
  The Old Maid of Bartley Green
  Anne Sinclair had sworn to protect her sister from the infamous Lord Ruin. Yet she never expected to sacrifice her own virtue. Forced to give the rogue her hand in marriage, she vowed never to relinquish her heart. But Ruan worshopped her body and valued her intelligence, making Anne long to succumb to the ultimate temptation: falling for her husband.
  
  Read Chapter 1 of Lord Ruin