Aspiring Author Joan Kayse!!!

Happy Thursday Everyone!

Are you thinking, "Hey, that name sounds familiar!"  Well, it just might!  If you consider yourself a Romance Bandit, or have visited their site once, you will recognize her name.  That's where I found her in my search for historical romance authors.  Yes, no one corrected me then, but last week's guest, Christine Wells, is also a Romance Bandit.  

Why Joan Kayse, she's not published?  Well, that doesn't matter here because someday, she will be.  How do I know?  Read the excerpt on her website for The Barbarian's Soul and tell me she doesn't have talent and a future as a romance writer.  Personally, I don't think that you will.  She already knows how to get you hot and bothered and then, leave you hanging!  I can't wait to read the rest of it!   

Okay, okay, I'm getting to it.  I know, you want to meet her and see what she has to say, so without keeping you in suspense any longer, here's Joan Kayse!  Take it away Joan!  

First, I would like to thank Carrie for inviting me to visit the Moonlighters today.

Rome wasn’t built in a day.

That, my friends has been my motto since the day I decided to get serious about all these stories flying around in my head. I’ve even considered having it tattooed somewhere on, er…my person.


My name is Joan and I write Roman historicals.

Kind of sounds like a 12 step program, doesn’t it? Well, it felt like it in 2001 when I began to explore the alternately astounding, energizing, frustrating, beat your head against the wall, raise your fist with fervor world of romance writing. That was the year I attended my first RWA conference in New Orleans. It was there that I met my first challenge in writing a non-Regency, non-Scottish historical. “I write Roman historicals” I stuttered, still not quite used to actually SAYING I was a writer. Oh, the looks of pity, the soothing “Oh, sweetie…really. Look at the market” responses. Would have withered some. Me? Just made me all the more determined to do just that.

Understand I was a baby writer then, having only been focusing on publication for a little over a year, after my mother passed away and I hit that “evaluate your life” phase of grieving. After all, she bestowed on me my creative mind and passion for the things I love. I grew up reading and loving romance, especially historical romance. Why not write one?

While I adore all types of history, Rome in all of its infamous, magnificent, decadent glory is my favorite period of all. I have no logical explanation for it. I mean the closest I got to studying it was taking two years of high school Latin. Substituting Latin words in the refrain of “Willie Go Round in Circles” was about all I took away from that. Oh, and a major crush on Mr. Powell the teacher J

But I KNEW from the first day I sat down to flesh out THE PATRICIAN’S DESIRE that I would be telling three heroes stories and they really, only could take place in Rome. Take a little bit of alpha, a touch of wounded (or in Bran’s case…a LOT of wounded) and a smidgen of an all consuming Empire that threatens their very existence. Throw in vibrant heroines that meet them toe to toe and voila….a series was born.

My fellow Banditas over at The Romance Bandits have created an elite contingent of gladiators. Demetrius, Lucien and Marcus are great guys (and mix a mean margharita) but there were more than gladiators and tribunes living and loving in 52 CE.

Jared. A merchant prince from Alexandria born of a Roman patrician father and a Hebrew merchant’s daughter whose very heritage damned him in both worlds. His salvation lies with the woman who betrayed him into slavery. (THE PATRICIAN’S DESIRE).

Damon. A Senatorial spy, subject to the will of others, betrayed and used his entire life from the moment his father sells him to pay a debt into adulthood when the machinations of a powerful government official leads to his near crucifixion. A woman with the face of a goddess stays the executioner’s hand only to throw him back into the intrigue and conspiracy ridden patrician world where he fights to keep her alive. (THE PATRICIAN’S FORTUNE)

Bran. Ex-gladiator fighting to retain his very soul after being forced to kill for the perverse pleasure of the Roman mob. He does not trust. He does not hope. He does not live. He only hates and endures and despises the Roman world until a raven haired beauty shatters the wall he’s built around his heart. (THE BARBARIAN’S SOUL)

Damon described my passion for the time period best:

They reached the bottom of the affluent Palatine neighborhood and turned toward the center of the city. Damon set a quick pace, navigating the twisting thoroughfares with ease. He knew this city like a man knows a lover. A boiling cauldron of arrogance, greed, and excess, Rome was the focal point of the civilized world, though Damon was certain a majority of the Empire’s conquered regions would hotly argue the point.

The crowds began to thicken as they continued down the Via Sacra and approached the two enormous pillars marking the entrance to the city center. Damon eyed the carved statues of Rome’s legendary founders, Romulus and Remus, circling their circumference. There were dozens of similar statues scattered around Rome, adorning public buildings, heralding a general’s successful campaign, an emperor’s benevolence, but this one had always been his favorite.

The famous twins faced each other, swords tightly clutched, expressions reflecting the stoicism of a conquering race, prepared to defend the nation they’d founded. Romulus’ free hand rested on the head of the legendary she-wolf who had suckled the abandoned infants. An omen the ill fated Remus, murdered by the brother who named an Empire, should have heeded. Take care who you trust. A lesson Damon had learned good and well. With Kaj flanking him, Damon stepped through the stone arch into the Forum.

The market was well designed. A large open area provided ample room for pedestrians and shoppers to go about their business. Weavers, jewelers, bakers, oil merchants, and pottery makers vied with tavernas and wine shops for their share of the citizens’ coin.

Street philosophers chalked their thoughts on the sides of buildings, some accompanied by unflattering drawings. Candidates for political offices spouted grand promises from stone block perches while those who had already been elected bustled about the business of government. Temples dedicated to one god or another stood wall to wall with brothels where, Damon mused, you were more likely to get your prayers answered than kneeling at an altar.

The city pulsed with life and Damon reveled in it. This was where he’d first experienced life after Jared had granted him his freedom. He closed his eyes for a moment, savored the sounds of bartering and badgering, inhaled the scent of spices and perfumes and—he cocked one eye open and looked at the painting of a pork hind gracing the side of a building—the butcher’s shop. The Patrician’s Fortune.
***
My manuscripts are making strides, finaling and winning many prestigious contests. THE PATRICIAN’S DESIRE was a 2006 Golden Heart finalist. Yes, you heard correctly. A Roman historical finaled in the Golden Heart. Jared also placed well in PASIC’S Book of Your Heart where booksellers and librarians granted him perfect scores. Damon has also done well winning the grand prize of the 2007 Suzannah against mixed sub-genres, pubbed and non. Most recently he won first place in Chicago North’s Fire & Ice. Bran, determined NOT to let those Romans get ahead just finaled in Georgia Romance Writer’s The Maggie. Not too shabby for a barbarian.

I don’t quote all these wins to brag though I am proud of every achievement…steps, tools, validation…but to reflect that there is room for variety in time periods in historical romance fiction. Yes, yes I still hear the “market” cliché, I hear that readers only buy the two popular time periods. Yes, the do…if that is all the selection offered to them. And hey, I don’t disagree. There are marvelous, new Regency historicals out there, among them my own fellow Banditas, Christine Wells and Anna Campbell. But variety IS the spice of life.

So, my fellow countrymen. Give me your rakes, your Scots, your dukes and marquis.

Give me a Roman.

So, what about you? What are your favorite time periods? Are you open to exploring new ones?

www.joankayse.com
www.romancebandits.blogspot.com