Aloha to Rachel Grant and Mary Sullivan, Treasure Hunters at RWA

My favorite panel during the 35th Annual RWA Conference was Treasures, Artifacts, and Curses: Archaeology 101 for Writers:

Rachel Grant and Mary Sullivan

An archaeology professor and private sector archaeologist give a behinds the scenes look at real life work of archaeologists. They'll alert attendees to common pitfalls they see in novels and discuss how to weave realistic archaeological details into stories.  

Rachel and Mary addressed the myths about archaeology that are often romanticized in pop culture - in reality, Indiana Jones was a thief!  I came to appreciate the effort of these archaeologists in uncovering the past.   Both confirmed that archaeologists take many notes ... so it must be a natural progression to write romances featuring archaeologists!

The bonus - both Rachel and Mary have lived in Hawaii.  Plus Rachel's husband, an underwater archaeologist for the US Navy, recently returned from a trip to Djibouti, Africa.  She shared a stone he received for teaching purposes that is dated as a million years old.  I was impressed!

Mary co-wrote the Case Study in Archaeology - A Student's Perspective.  Rachel is the author of the Evidence series with smart heroines and sexy heroes.  Back in May, she celebrated the release of Book Five, COVERT EVIDENCE:

Falling in love was never part of his mission…

With visions of professional glory, underwater archaeologist Cressida Porter embarks on a research trip deep into the heart of Eastern Turkey. Her dreams turn into nightmares when she becomes the unwitting courier for a terrorist network. Stranded and unable to speak the language, she turns to a handsome and enigmatic security specialist for help, even while fearing he may be behind a violent assault that leaves her vulnerable.

CIA Case Officer Ian Boyd’s mission is clear: follow the courier, identify the terrorist leader, and intercept the microchip before it falls into enemy hands. For Ian, cozying up to the alluring archaeologist to find out where her loyalties lie isn’t exactly hardship duty. But spending time with her proves dangerous when she awakens a longing for a life he can never have.

Attraction wars with distrust as Cressida and Ian are forced on the run. When violence erupts in the already unstable region, Cressida discovers everything she knows about Ian is false. With all secrets revealed, Cressida must decide if she can trust the spy with her life, while Ian faces his own impossible choice: Cressida or his mission.

I am giving away RWA conference "treasures" (aka swag) to one randomly selected commenter.  To enter the giveaway,

1.  Do you have a favorite "treasure hunting" movie?  For hints, check out this list.  I enjoyed the movie THE DA VINCI CODE although I did not read the book. 

2.  Comments are open through Saturday, August 22, 10 pm in Baltimore.

3.  I'll post the winner on Sunday, August 23.

Mahalo,

Kim in Baltimore

Aloha Spirit in Charm City

Hawaii offers many treasures ....

Aloha to Rachel Grant and INCRIMINATING EVIDENCE (plus a long lost high school alumni)

Aloha!  Rachel Grant joins us today to celebrate the release of INCRIMINATING EVIDENCE,  Book 4 in her Evidence series.   She joined us last year (link) - we chatted about being a professional archaeologist and living in Hawaii.   More recently, Rachel discovered I attended Countryside High School (courtesy of Facebook) ... naturally, I invited her back for another chat!

Kim:  Blast from our past! We are both "Cougars" from Clearwater .... looking back at high school, what did you see in your future?

Rachel: My senior year at CHS, I was editor of the school literary magazine, The Laureate, and one of the creative writing exercises we were given to kill time after the magazine was put to bed was to write about where we saw ourselves at our 10 year high school reunion. If I remember correctly, I wrote that in ten years I’d be married to Patrick Swayze and an author. I was kidding about Patrick Swayze (at the time my crush was more Rob Lowe, but Dirty Dancing gave my senior year a soundtrack), but I knew I wanted to be a writer. I missed my 10 year reunion because at the time I was newly married (with no regrets that my husband is neither Swayze or Lowe) and had moved to Washington, D.C., where I worked as an archaeologist in an office that later became the model for Talon & Drake in Concrete Evidence.

I’ve tried to find my high school creative writing teacher – Ms. Ceraolo-O’Donnell (did you have her?) – I’d love to let her know I did go on to become an author, but haven’t had any luck so far.

Cougar by Greg Hume via Creative Commons (link)

Kim:  Funny that we both graduated from the same high school, lived on the same Hawaiian island, and both love romance. When/who/how did you discover the enticing world of romance?

Rachel:  It started with sneak-reading my older sister’s copy of Ashes in the Wind by Kathleen Woodiwiss when I was about 13. Then, when I was fifteen and the new kid at CHS (we moved right before my sophomore year) I met Diana, another new student, who unabashedly read historical romance and introduced me to Jude Deveraux, Johanna Lindsey, Shirlee Busbee, Jennifer Blake, and Laurie McBain. Imagine my fangirl moment when Shirlee Busbee followed me on Twitter! Now multiply it by 10 when I was included in a box set with Jennifer Blake! 

princessbrideforever.com

Kim:  (reading over her bio), My husband loves THE PRINCESS BRIDE. What's your favorite character/scene/line?

Rachel:  My first instinct was to say Fezzik. I love all of his dialogue. But I think my favorite scene is the sword fight, which he isn’t even in, so maybe Inigo? Although I had a huge crush on Cary Elwes in the late 80s. (Lady Jane! The Princess Bride! Glory!)

Kim:  THE PRINCESS BRIDE was recently broadcast on Cable.  Perhaps the best line is the last:

The Grandson: Grandpa, maybe you could come over and read it again to me tomorrow.

Grandpa: As you wish.

Tell us about INCRIMINATING EVIDENCE - what inspired it?

Rachel:  After writing Body of Evidence, I toyed with the idea of taking a character who was similar to a previous villain and make him the hero. I couldn’t redeem an actual villain (my villains are unredeemable) my idea was to have a man in the same profession as a previous villain. My first thought was to redeem a treasure hunter (Concrete Evidence), but this would be difficult, because treasure hunting is just about the worst thing an archaeologist can do. The CEO of Raptor, a mercenary organization (Body of Evidence), was my next choice, and once I knew Alec’s profession, the story grew from there.

(If you haven’t read Concrete Evidence or Body of Evidence, these aren’t spoilers; it’s clear Jake Novak and Robert Beck are villains early in each book.)

I still might write my treasure hunter hero someday, if I can figure out how to make it work. But really, treasure hunters are bad guys, no matter what everyone else says.

Want to know more about Incriminating Evidence? Here is the blurb. You can read an excerpt here.

From enemies to allies…

When archaeologist Isabel Dawson stumbles upon an unconscious man deep in the Alaskan wilderness, her survival skills are put to the test. She tends his wounds and drags him to shelter, only to discover she’s saved the life of Raptor CEO Alec Ravissant—the man who may have covered up her brother’s murder to save his senatorial campaign.

With no memory of the assault that landed him five miles deep in the forest, Alec doesn’t know what to believe when he wakes in the clutches of the beautiful redhead who blames him for her brother’s death, but he quickly realizes he needs her help to uncover the truth about his lost hours.

Isabel never imagined she’d find herself allied with Alec, and he’s the last man she ever expected to find attractive. But the former Army Ranger-turned-politician proves seductively charming, and he’s determined to win much more than her vote. When their quest for answers puts Isabel in the crosshairs, Alec must risk everything—his company, his campaign, and his life—to protect her.

Amazon | iBooks | Kobo | Barnes & Noble

Kim:  What's next for Rachel Grant?

Rachel:  The next book in the Evidence Series, Covert Evidence, is written. The heroine is Cressida Porter, a character introduced in Withholding Evidence. Cressida gets in trouble while on a research trip in Turkey, and must put her trust in a handsome American spy to survive. No release date yet, but readers who sign up for my new release mailing list will be the first to know when it’s available, Rachel-Grant.net.

Thank you so much for having me Kim!

Mahalo, Rachel, just being awesome!  Rachel is giving away a digital copy of BODY OF EVIDENCE to one randomly selected commenter.  To enter the giveaway,

1.  Leave a comment about high school, Princess Bride, or archaeology.

I was a geek in high school although I did earn a letter in Track. 

My family enjoys Fight School (link) at the Maryland Renaissance Festival - they reenact the famous sword scene from The Princess Bride.

I wanted to be an archaeologist ... the closest to that dream was visiting Egypt in 2004 as a tourist.

2.  Comments are open through Saturday, April 11, 10 pm in Baltimore.

3.  I'll post the winner on Sunday, April 12.

Mahalo,

Kim in Baltimore

Aloha Spirit in Charm City

Celebrate Hawaii Week - Aloha to Rachel Grant and BODY OF EVIDENCE

I recently met Rachel Grant via email through a mutual friend, knowing that I would find Rachel interesting ...

Rachel Grant worked for over a decade as a professional archaeologist and fully intends to mine her experiences for storylines and settings, which are as diverse as excavating a cemetery underneath an historic art museum in San Francisco; surveying an economically depressed coal mining town in Kentucky; and mapping a seventeenth century Spanish and Dutch fort on the island of Sint Maarten in the Netherlands Antilles.

In all her travels and adventures as an archaeologist, Rachel has found many sites and artifacts, but she’s only found one true treasure, her husband, David. They met while working together excavating a four thousand year old site about to be destroyed by the expansion of a sewage treatment plant in Seattle. Despite their romantic first meeting, she has no intention of ever setting a story at a sewage treatment plant.

Rachel Grant lives on an island in the Pacific Northwest with her husband and children.

Rachel joins us for a cozy chat ...

Kim:  You lived in Hawaii - what was your favorite sight, sound, and smell of Paradise?

Rachel:  I loved everything* about Hawaii, from waking up in the morning to a cacophony of birds, our amazing view of the Koʻolau Range, being able to escape the rain on the windward side with a quick trip leeward, taking my kids to the gentle beaches of Kailua, to driving north to watch the big waves on the North Shore. I loved the food: lau lau, kalua pork, and haupia (but not Spam musubi). Plus my neighbor once gave me a homemade passion fruit pie that was to die for.

My son was born in Hawaii, and we celebrated his first birthday with a traditional luau. My neighbor was amazing; she came over the morning of the party as I stared at an array of ingredients and had no clue where to start. She took over, making an incredible spread of traditional foods. I did make the chicken long rice myself though, and it was pretty good.J

*I will admit I don’t miss the mosquitos.

Kim:  Professional archaeologist ... wow! What inspired you to enter this career field? Is it as sexy as Indiana Jones?

Rachel: I blame Elizabeth Peters for my career choice. In my senior year in high school I discovered her wonderful mysteries and was hooked. I still want to be Vicky Bliss when I grow up.

Hmm… as sexy as Indiana Jones? Well, I did meet my husband on my first professional dig, and we’ve been together for twenty years, but that dig was at a sewage treatment plant in Seattle. Enough said?

Kim:  I love that you incorporate your profession into your books - how have your colleagues (past and present) responded to your new direction in career fields?

Rachel: My archaeologist friends are wonderful and supportive. They read my books and appreciate that my heroes aren’t treasure hunters (a huge no in the profession) or artifact collectors. It’s important to me to keep the archaeology accurate to the profession, because they’d come after me if I got it wrong. 

My husband, who is also an archaeologist, helps me with plotting. His colleagues are more leery of my books because of the romance, so he gets the typical ribbing husbands of romance authors receive. A few of his coworkers (the women) have read my books, enjoyed them, and are now starting to read more romance. I love luring readers in with plot, but keeping them with the romance.

Kim:  What did you learn as an assistant to Jill Barnett? 

Rachel:  Goodness, this is a tough question, because I learned so much from Jill! She taught me how to structure a scene for impact, how to recognize when dialogue is forced, but probably most importantly, how to wield point of view effectively. There is nothing like a Jill Barnett critique. She has an incredible ability to breakdown and explain why a scene doesn’t work, but she never told me how to change it, instead she gave me the tools to find my own fix.

Kim:  Now that you have a few books under your belt, what have you learned about yourself as a writer?

Rachel:  I’m a fast writer when it comes to first drafts, except I’ve been known to follow a wrong plot thread for 50k words, making the second draft that much harder to write when I have to scrap half the novel. I’m learning to recognize when a plot thread is veering, so I don’t waste time and writing energy on a story that falls apart. This is making me a faster writer overall, and I’m enjoying writing first drafts more. (I LOVE revisions, not first drafts.) I tend to complete anywhere from twelve to twenty drafts of a 100k word novel before it’s ready to publish. I’m trying to get that number down to about eight.

Mahalo, Rachel, for celebrating Hawaii with us! I am giving away a digital copy of BODY OF EVIDENCE:

And she thought facing a firing squad was bad…

When archaeologist Mara Garrett traveled to North Korea to retrieve the remains of GIs lost in combat, she never imagined she’d be arrested, convicted of spying, and sentenced to death. Her only hope is Curt Dominick, the powerful, ambitious, and infuriatingly sexy US attorney prosecuting her uncle, a former vice president of the United States.

What starts off as a rescue mission quickly morphs into a race across the Pacific. Someone is after Mara, and they’ll risk everything to stop her from reaching Washington DC. With betrayal around every corner, Curt and Mara have little reason to trust each other and every reason to deny the sparks between them that blaze hotter than the Hawaiian sun. Still, desire clashes with loyalty when they discover a conspiracy that threatens not only their lives but the national security of the United States.

To enter the giveaway,

1. Leave a comment about archaeology - does it interest you? I admit I thought I wanted to dig in Egypt when I was a child.

2. Comments are open through Saturday, June 14, 10 pm in Baltimore.

3. I'll post the winner on Sunday, June 15.

Mahalo,

Kim in Baltimore
Aloha Spirit in Charm City

Learn more about Rachel and her books at rachel-grant.net.

Check out my pictures of Kaneohe at this link and link.  Plus my pictures of North Korea via the DMZ at this link.