Biography
I grew up on the west coast of Canada among the mountains and cedar trees. I'm not much into putting down roots--I love moving around--but roots have minds of their own. Mine go deep into those mountains and are entwined with the cedars, and no matter where I live, there's a part of me that always, always longs for home. It's a magic place which never lets go, and that's all there is to it. I'm pretty sure that magic is what started me writing paranormals, because I wrote my first at only eight years old.
I lived in Oxford, England for a year when I was twelve, and I have roots there, too, but they're mostly cultural. My ancestors are English, with some Scots and Irish farther back. Oxford is heavy with the magic of centuries. I loved it there--everything from playing twosy-ball against the school wall, to helping out at an archaeological dig, to spending my pocket money in Blackwell's bookshop. I think it's that year in England, coupled with all the Brit lit I read as a child, that inspired me to write historicals. My foray into teen melodrama, best forgotten, also sprang from that year in England.
I spent several years in Montreal, and now and then I miss the winters--they're long, but nothing beats the cold, bright, silent magic of a winter's night. And the French spoken all around me--I miss that, too. Sometime during the years in Quebec and on into the move to Georgia, I started writing paranormals again, in the form of fantasy for my kids. This resulted in my middle grade novel, The Secret of the Stolen Mandolin.
I live in Georgia and spend a lot of time in south Louisiana, so now I have roots in the southern U.S. as well. I love the dense, humid air (well, usually), the lightning bugs and kudzu (so spooky), the live oaks and resurrection fern. On my first trip to Louisiana, I succumbed to the magic of New Orleans. I love it all: Bourbon Street, beignets and the levee, the Mardi Gras parades, the spicy food and hot nights, the dark and lovely moods of the French Quarter, and the swamps nearby. New Orleans is my inspiration for the funky little town of Bayou Gavotte, with its fetish clubs... and vampires... and who knows what else.
And the British Isles, with their fascinating history and folklore, are the inspiration for my Regencies, both those with magic and those without. (Of course, they all have one special magic in them -- love.)
I lived in Oxford, England for a year when I was twelve, and I have roots there, too, but they're mostly cultural. My ancestors are English, with some Scots and Irish farther back. Oxford is heavy with the magic of centuries. I loved it there--everything from playing twosy-ball against the school wall, to helping out at an archaeological dig, to spending my pocket money in Blackwell's bookshop. I think it's that year in England, coupled with all the Brit lit I read as a child, that inspired me to write historicals. My foray into teen melodrama, best forgotten, also sprang from that year in England.
I spent several years in Montreal, and now and then I miss the winters--they're long, but nothing beats the cold, bright, silent magic of a winter's night. And the French spoken all around me--I miss that, too. Sometime during the years in Quebec and on into the move to Georgia, I started writing paranormals again, in the form of fantasy for my kids. This resulted in my middle grade novel, The Secret of the Stolen Mandolin.
I live in Georgia and spend a lot of time in south Louisiana, so now I have roots in the southern U.S. as well. I love the dense, humid air (well, usually), the lightning bugs and kudzu (so spooky), the live oaks and resurrection fern. On my first trip to Louisiana, I succumbed to the magic of New Orleans. I love it all: Bourbon Street, beignets and the levee, the Mardi Gras parades, the spicy food and hot nights, the dark and lovely moods of the French Quarter, and the swamps nearby. New Orleans is my inspiration for the funky little town of Bayou Gavotte, with its fetish clubs... and vampires... and who knows what else.
And the British Isles, with their fascinating history and folklore, are the inspiration for my Regencies, both those with magic and those without. (Of course, they all have one special magic in them -- love.)
