Friday’s random thoughts
- By: Jessica Faust | Date: Sep 07 2007
It’s Friday and I’ve had a busy week so I wanted to share some random thoughts with you. First off let me tell you what a bang my week started off with. On Tuesday I concluded an auction that moved one of my authors to a new house. All last week I was taking bids and negotiating with editors. It was a terrific way to end my summer and a fun new way for the author and I to start the fall.
In other client news, in the last two weeks I’ve received emails from more than one client sharing ideas they have for new projects. I have to say, I’m very, very excited. There are some cool ideas out there and I think my clients are grabbing on to them. And last night I read a partial from another client. I had read this partial previously and rejected it. The idea was sound, but the execution needed work. The author and I talked extensively and she spent a good portion of her summer rewriting and working on it. And can I say brilliant?! It’s absolutely amazing and for those of you hoping that I’ll venture more into fantasy it looks like we’re starting to head in that direction. I’m so excited to talk with the author more about it and get it into the hands of editors.
You all have had me thinking too. In my post on market updates someone asked whether or not there was romantic suspense that didn’t include law enforcement or the military. While I knew there was, I had to think a little.. The answer is of course, yes. The newest Lisa Jackson contains neither and I know there are others, but I’m going to turn to you. Any titles or suggestions for someone looking for romantic suspense without a military or law enforcement hero?
And lastly, I just read that author Madeleine L’Engle passed away last night and I have to admit this was sad for me. A piece of my childhood has passed on. If you’ve never read Madeleine L’Engle do so now. I only remember reading her A Wrinkle in Time Trilogy, but remember them as if I read them yesterday. Meg is an amazing character and the books literally bring you to new worlds.
Have a great weekend everyone!
–Jessica
Thanks for answering my question about romantic suspense!
Madeline L’Engle’s books were among the very first chapter books I read as a child, and ones that I frequently recommended when I worked in a children’s library. Her passing is a great loss.
My romantic suspense novel DESERT GUARDIAN (The Wild Rose Press) doesn’t feature law enforcement until the very end, and it’s more of a cameo appearance. 8^) The hero in the story is a cult intervention specialist who rescues victims of cult influence. So he’s not the law, and in fact has had kidnapping charges filed against him. It’s a unique story, fast paced with lots of action, and I invite everyone who enjoys romantic suspense to give it a try. 8^) You can order the trade paperback from Amazon.com. The link is on my website.
I loved A Wrinkle In Time and I’m still trying to talk my 18 year old daughter into reading it.
On Romantic Suspense — I’ve been leaning toward that in my last couple of novels. My latest, BAD ICE, was (unfortunately) rejected by BookEnds but your encouragement and guidance prompted me to rewrite. It will be published by a small Canadian press (since it’s hockey related) and there’s not a cop in the bunch, except for a few cameo appearances.
RS without police or military, in no particular order:
– Night Echoes by Holly Lisle (has a slight paranormal aspect–psychic type, not vamps or wolves)
– The Summit by Kat Martin (also slight psychic component)
– Nine Lives by Sharon Sala (bounty hunter protags)
– In Too Deep by Tina Wainscott (newpaper editor and writer protags)
– Hot Night by Shannon McKenna (actually, as I recall, McKenna has several RS books that aren’t military/police, but the others don’t come to mind as readily)
– Killer Curves by Roxanne St. Claire (racecar drivers) (She also has some others that fit the bill)
– See How She Dies by Lisa Jackson (family secrets)
– Bad Moon Rising by Katherine Sutcliffe (ok, so the hero is a lawyer who used to be a DA…sort of law enforcement related)
Do private investigators/security/paramilitary groups count? Because there are hundreds of paramilitary kinds of things (like Dee Davis’ Last Chance trilogy or Cindy Gerard’s Bodyguards books).
As you can tell, I like Romantic Suspense. Jessica says agents and editors are looking for more RS. I sure hope they find it…I’ve read just about everything out there! If you’re interested in the genre, my library at librarything has most of what I’ve found!
Most RS uses some form of military or law enforcement to allow for expertise, as well as plot movement.
In those novels that don’t, I’ve read a lot that are former military and/or law enforcement, or military and/or law enforcement personnel play a minor role.
This is true in regular suspense and thriller as well. (Consider Child’s Jack Reacher character as an example.)
The role of the amateur in suspense is not as clearly defined as in, say, cozy mysteries, but there’s no reason it can’t be done.