Euro-Reviews: Women's Fiction Reviews

Lynne Connolly was born in Leicester, England and educated at the local grammar school, before she went to Manchester Polytechnic for her first degree in Art History and English, and Manchester University for the second, MBA. After several years working as a marketing executive, she married and now has two kids.

She have been writing all her life, but never considered writing for publication until a few years ago, when she got a PC. After a few false starts she found that her market was in the USA, and she concentrated her efforts there and got accepted by several publishers.

Lynne has always been interested in the Georgian period, and since her early teens, has read the books of Georgette Heyer avidly. Her favourite writer is Charles Dickens, for his depth of narrative, the astonishing risks he takes with the novel form, and his sheer power as a storyteller.

- www.awe-struck.net slightly changed text -

Renay: Lynne, you say that you write “historical romances, set in the Georgian and Regency era”. Your stories seem to fit into the “Paranormal” arena also. Tell us how you came to write your latest book “The Summoning - Eternal Beauty, Eternal Darkness”.

Lynne: I had already written one book for The Summoning series, in which a group of women conjure up the ghosts of ancient evil, and the premise interested me so much that I wanted to do another.

I am also developing an idea for a new series, centered around the Department 57, where Garon Rothwell works.

The villainess also fascinated me. Erzsébet Báthory was a real person, and she killed over 600 young women before she was caught. A Hungarian noblewoman who must have been mad, but as a noblewoman she was untouchable. She wasn’t so untouchable in modern day Connecticut!

Erzsébet Báthory got you interested? Read more about this Hungarian serial killer at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_B%C3%A1thory

Renay: When will “Eternal Beauty, Eternal Darkness” be released?

Lynne: August, 2005

Renay: Give us a brief synopsis of “Eternal Beauty, Eternal Darkness”.

Lynne: Garon enters the occult bookstore of heroine Tara Carlisle in the middle of a psychic attack. He is forced to reveal his Sorcerer powers when he repels the assault. When he sees Tara he is smitten, but Garon is a virgin, and must remain that way to retain his powers. As a serial killer strikes, the small town of Witney, Connecticut is thrown into turmoil and Garon becomes increasingly concerned about Tara’s safety as he falls deeper in love with her. Tara is no pushover. Ex army intelligence, she too is forced to use her special skills to protect herself and the man she has grown to love.

Renay: Your first contribution to "the Summoning” was titled “The Chemistry of Evil”. How do you come up with the titles for your books?

Lynne: (Laughs). I have to admit that both titles were my editor’s idea. Aren’t they great? I’m not very good at titles, I have to admit.

Renay: Do you come up with the characters or a story idea first?

Lynne: I usually 'see' a scene or an incident, and I work from there. Sometimes it’s the situation that fascinates me, sometimes it’s the people involved, but I’m very character-oriented. If a scene doesn’t work for the characters, out it goes!

Renay: How much research do you do before beginning to write?

Lynne: A great deal. I’m a bit of a research junkie! I’ve researched history since I was a child, just for interest, but that’s coming in useful with the historicals. Most of my knowledge of the paranormal comes from my Nana, who was a Romany. However, I have quite a few books as well, some of them not available on the open market.

Renay: Do you have an agent and if so, how did you find him/her?

Lynne: My current agent is about to retire from the business, so I’m currently on the Great Agent Hunt!

Renay: Is there another book in the works that will follow “Eternal Beauty, Eternal Darkness”?

Lynne: I’ve written book three of The Curse of the Midnight Star series, and that’s due out in September. It’s to be called “The Haunting” and it is my first vampire book. If it does well, I might well do another one! This series concerns the search for a fabled jewel, and is set in a great old plantation house, being renovated to become a resort hotel. The series has curses, voodoo, ghosts and vampires.

Renay: Where will readers be able to purchase “The Summoning Eternal Beauty, Eternal Darkness”?

Lynne: The best place will be at Triskelion’s website. The book will be moved to the “New Releases” page, and will have its own page with an extract.

Renay: What else would you like to tell us about you?

Lynne: I hope to combine my two interests and write a historical paranormal. I’m currently writing a novella, a Regency ghost story. And I want to continue the story of Department Fifty Seven, with its controller, the enigmatic Cristos.

Renay: Have you any hobbies?

Lynne: Oh yes (laughs). I make and fill dollhouses. It’s a fascinating hobby, and I share it with many other people, as you can see at the big exhibition held at Birmingham twice a year! My research is useful for my hobby, as well.

Renay: What are you planning next?

Lynne: I want to develop the Department Fifty Seven concept. This is a department of the CIA that concentrates on psychic research. But it’s no X Files. It was started when Cristos went to Russia in the Cold War years and discovered the Russian’s researches into parapsychology (that is real, and was the starting point for me). He came back and the CIA decided that if psychic developments were going to be made, the USA would have them first! So he runs Department Fifty Seven, so called because its offices are on 57th Avenue in New York. But paranormal beings all over the world are alarmed by the developments. They don’t want any government to discover their secrets, so the beings who work in the department are as intent on concealment as they are to help the development of psychic abilities. This gives me a link for all the stories, and a fascinating character is Cristos. I’ve already been asked for his story, although he is an older man!

Renay: Do you have a Website?

Lynne: Yes. You can find it at http://homepage.ntlworld.com/lynneconnolly/

Renay: Where can you be contacted?

Lynne: Either on the Triskelion loops, or my email at Lynneconnollyuk@yahoo.co.uk

Thank You Lynne Connolly!

H. Renay Anderson

Euro-Reviews

July 2005