We love Lisa Marie Rice around here. She writes seriously steamy stuff with good plots and excellent character development. And she doesn’t take herself too seriously! I mean, how serious can a nom de plume be, after all. The mystery behind who this woman is shall remain unrevealed, at least, by us here on this post.
So without further ado, everyone, please meet Lisa Marie Rice. Author of the recently released Dangerous Lover and user of the Marilyn Monroe avatar. She answers some of our questions and will be around a couple of days to answer yours in the comments.
You have one of the best “male” voices in romancelandia today. How do you prepare yourself to speak from the male perspective? And is it a jolt to go back to a woman’s voice?
I prepare myself by putting myself into the ‘me’ that is not a writer but a professional, used to hard things, totally reality-based. As a writer, I can allow myself to sort of put Vaseline on the lens of life to make it … gauzier and prettier, but as a professional, travelling and working hard, I can’t. my men are like that. No BS, no false optimism, just a tough analysis of life’s parameters.
What are you working on next?
Right now, I’m finishing up the second Avon Red novel, DANGEROUS SECRETS, and finishing up a bit of a departure – an erotic romantic comedy for Ellora’s Cave, A FINE SPECIMEN.
Do you have a favorite genre or time period for what you write? How about what you read?
Contemporary, contemporary, contemporary. I used to read lots of history and science fiction, but for some reason, i’ve lost my taste for alternate worlds over the past ten years. I read exclusively about this world, warts and all.
What’s in your TBR pile?
Just went into the bedroom to check:
NO SAFE PLACE by Joann Ross
ROBERTS RIDGE by Malcolm McPherson
A THOUSAND DAYS IN TUSCANY by Marlena de Blasi
LOST LIGHT by Michael Connelly
WAR DOG by Al J. Ventner
THE BOYS FROM BAGHDAD by Simon Low
BRAVE NEW WAR by John Robb
NOT A GOOD DAY TO DIE by Sean Naylor
CITIZEN GIRL by Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Kraus
NOTHING TO FEAR by Karen Rose
Several Italian novels
And a partridge in a pear tree
What are your favorite books of all time?
WAY too many to list. In romance, I sometimes return to old Linda Howards or Nora Roberts for comfort. Stephen Hunter… nope, can’t go on, the list would be endless.
What are you looking forward to reading that hasn’t come out yet?
PATIENCE, by Lisa Valdez. I LOVED Passion and like everyone else, am looking forward to the second one.
Plus am looking forward to the new Thomas Perry.
What one piece of writing-as-a-business advice would you most want to give other would-be authors?
Make sure you have a solid financial base before giving up the day job. It’s a volatile business.
Who is your favorite fictional hero and heroine of all time and why?
Well, as a fictional hero, Lee Child’s JACK REACHER is hard to beat, though of course he’s not a romance hero, though he is a romantic hero, sort of like a contemporary Shane. And I think Stephanie Plum is adorable.
What do you value most in a relationship, and is it the same to you for professional relationships as well as personal?
Loyalty and smarts, both in private and professional life.
If you could script the basic plot of a dream you will have tonight, how would it read?
Oh God, I would want the suspense plot of the next novel to come to me complete and whole. Please.
Five hundred years from now, only one book which exists today will still be available. Which book do you think it should be?
Well, I’m not too sure about our chances of survival in the next 50 years, let alone the next 500. So to the miserable mutant creatures huddling in caves 500 years from now, I would bequeath either a Merck Manual or an engineering text. And, just to remind them that once, many years ago, softer emotions were allowed, a Jane Austen.
If a movie were made about your life, what would the theme song be?
I WILL SURVIVE. Corny, but true.
Thanks again, Lisa Marie!
Have a question for Lisa Marie Rice? Have at it! Due to the time difference I am not sure when she will be on to answer but I do know she will be checking in! You can find all of Lisa Marie’s post here, which are excellent. There is so much good stuff I hate to put up more posts! And I had wanted to do at least two others!
So we will announce the contest here! We will be giving away three (unsigned) copies of Dangerous Lover. To enter comment on any Lisa Marie Rice post by midnight (CST) August 23, 2007.
I am not sure what you mean about the comments about “male” voice but I have to agree with Lisa Marie about loving contemporary style books. Even if the storyline has a paranormal theme, I like the setting to be in the contemporary. I am also a fan of waiting for Patience by Lisa Valdez. Is it a Lisa thing, lol?
Great interview! If you could have one super power, what would you want it to be and why?
Have you ever based a character on a family member or friend?
Lisa!
I am so happy about you moving into the print world! I honestly think Dangerous Lover is one of the best books of the summer. Coming from Elloras Cave and erotica, how will it be different for you now that you are writing for Avon? It seems at EC, almost anything goes sexually wise so I can imagine you will have to tone down a little with your new books?
PS… you need a website 🙂
Lisa, I think you might like this revision version of I Will Survive,I Will Revise. 😀
Finally! Someone else who shares my regard for Jack Reacher! He’s a complicated guy but so interesting.
I’ve enjoyed all your EC books in e-format then bought them when they came out in paperback. I love the e-formats but there is nothing like snuggling up in bed with an actual book in hand!! I loved Dangerous Lover but wished for a better epilogue!
Thanks for this fun Q&A Lisa! I’ve enjoyed all your Ellora’s books and just got my hands on Dangerous Lover. I love stories where the hero pines for the heroine. 🙂 And now I’m going to have to also add the Lee Child book to my TBR list.
Count me in too, also can’t wait for Lisa Valdez’s Patience. With respect to reviews, do you read them? and do they matter to you?
And what is the best piece of fan mail you ever received?
Looking forward to reading your next Avon release!!!
OMG, I wish I had a short TRB pile like that! LOL, I’ll have to live to be 200 to get through mine!
Great interview, Lisa. When you read, do you find yourself thinking more as an author, “I would have written that scene differently,” or something similar, or are you able to shut that off and just read a book in its entirety for the sheer pleasure of it?
Well to be fair she did say she checked a table didn’t she? I have tons of small stacks of tbr books *g*.
Did you find it difficult to write erotic romance for a New York Publisher such as Avon Red vs EC? Did you have to pull back? Anything end up on the cutting room floor?
If so send! We can post *g*.
Was there a process for you or even a plan to move to a New York publisher? Did you look at the other lines out now? How did you decide on Avon Red?
I love you Midnight Series. No question really… just saying 🙂
Hi all!! I’m sorry I went away yesterday! Pirates came and kidnapped me and carried me away to a beautiful seaside restaurant along the Ionian coast and most cruelly FORCED me to eat grilled shrimp and drink sparkling white wine until well after midnight! Help! Call the police!
you guys are amazing, though and I will forever in my head be humming I WILL REVISE! May you are a genius! and i drank enough last night to definitely be able to listen to you singing the karaoke version! it’s going to become an internet classic, fantastic! you really should do a youtube version.
Amy S. — what kind of super power would I like to have? Well, I’d LOVE to have Nora Roberts’ superpower to sit down and effortlessly write a book in a month. Well, that was cruel. I’ll bet it’s not effortless. I’ll bet she sweats and bleeds as much as I do, only she does it FAST.
KATIEBABS –
Thanks for the kind words re Dangerous Lover! I would however like to remind you and other readers out there that all my Ellora’s Cave books are available in print, as well. they can be ordered fromthe EC site, from ebay and amazon and are in tons of bookstores. And re how my style will change now that I’m also writing for Avon, well not much, is my guess. I couldn’t write erotic romance any way differently from the way I do (see post above). My EC books aren’t more erotic than the Avon ones, or any less. Yes, at EC there are a lot of writers much wilder and more experimental than I am. to each her own…
Re the Website — all I can do is sigh. I have a day job and I translate. I have a household of wonderful but incredibly labor-intense males, a big house and an active social life. I run a literary festival. It’s all I can do to claw out the time to write these books (from the face of the rock, it feels like). though I KNOW I should have a website, I know it, I know it, I think if I did my head would explode. We wouldn’t want that now, would we?
However, never say never. Maybe I will…
Cool glad to see a couple more fans of “Jack Reacher”!
Lisa you are lucky you only have a small TBR stack (I have at least 4 stacks myself)!
I was wondering what are your favorite Linda Howard books and heroes/heroines?
Thanks!
Jack Reacher is really, truly a great hero. However, woe betide the female who loves him because he won’t be loved. Not being open to love is part of the same thing that makes him unable to stay in one place for more than a few days, or have a driver’s license or own property.
He is the quintessential drifter and a woman can break her heart against that rocklike inability to settle down.
And, well, ladies, let’s face it. he’s tough and smart and handsome and huge but really, would we want him? I love how Lee Child describes him as having almost no modern coping skills. None. And however much we yearn for alphas, the guy has to know how to write checks and fill out the insurance form and how garbage disposal works, doesn’t he?
Great interview. Your books sound great.
Wow! I can’t believe how short your TBR pile is. My TBR consists of couple of shelves worth and a couple of large filled boxes. I was wondering what you found most challenging about writing Dangerous Lover? Enjoyed the Q&A!
The most challenging thing about writing DANGEROUS LOVER was making sure Jack didn’t come off as a stalker. He’s absolutely not. he was obsessed with Caroline for 12 years, true, but part of it was she symbolized a world he never thought he could enter. Then he spent 12 years ‘earning’ that right.
He was actually, subconsciously, surprised that Caroline was as wonderful and warm as she is.
You know I often think that about your heroes (oddly shannon’s as well I LOVE CONNOR!)… how do you keep them from seeming stalkeish?
I love, love, love Standing in the Shadow (by Shannon McKenna for anyone not in the know) and just adore Midnight Run (lisa marie rice) and Lover Awakened (JR Ward’s Butch)… and each one of those guys seem to walk a line.
And to some people they cross it. It is something you can read in reader commentary on the books that omg the hero was a stalker! Where I am sitting there all swoony. In real life… I would knock the fuck out of them and run (Ithink maybe not) but they work for me on paper.
I am not really sure why. Then again I haven’t given it any great thought. As a writer creating one of these characters (and you have more than a few that fit) is there anything you have to keep in mind? Anything you cut out because it seemed to cross that line in your mind?
I enjoyed reading all your posts here. Great interview! I’m already a big fan of yours. I have your latest book on my wish list. My question:
Which female character of yours is most like you and why?
I’ve enjoyed reading your stories and look forward to reading Dangerous Lover.
I have one question about a previous book. I’ve always been intrigued by Marco and Kay from Port of Paradise. Any plans to write their story?
CATCHING UP–
CAROL — about reviews…I do read them though perhaps one shouldn’t. It’s terrible when a book you’ve written is completely misunderstood and you want to shout — but that’s not what I meant! That’s the price you pay for putting your work out there. I’m very very lucky in that my books usually get pretty good reviews, but that only makes it scarier when writing the current book — can I pull that off again? I think the sanest thing to do would be not to read them at all…
SANDY M — one of the side effects of becoming a writer after a lifetime of being a ferocious reader is that you start to read books completely differently. You do say to yourself — hmmm intersting hook. Or — wow, I would have made that transition differently. Luckily, the world is full of better writers than I am and so I read in awe and in full knowledge of how hard this profession is and how well they did this hard thing.
SYBIL — writing for Avon — no, absolutely not, I didn’t have to pull back on anything. My editor is fabulous.
TERRI W — my favorite Linda Howards. I must say I’m a big fan of some of the Silhouettes — the McKenzie books are fabulous. I loved Touch of Fire. Dream Man and Kill and Tell — amazing.
SYBIL — I need to find myself a copy of JR Ward’s Lover Awakened right away! I loved Connor too! I think I mentioned elsewhere that I am Shannon critique partner and I loved every second reading about Connor. And ladies? Prepare yourselves for a BIG TREAT with Shannon’s new book, it is spectacular. I don’t know what title it will have but it is Nick WArd’s story and you will LOVE it!
Yes, as a writer I definitely try to keep things on this side of stalkerish. that’s why it’s so much fun being in the hero’s head so much because you KNOW he truly loves her and knows her and doesn’t have in his sick head an image of what he’d like her to be, as stalkers do.
KIM W — which of my female characters is most like me? Hmmmm, there’s a little bit of me in all my female characters, though most of them are neater than I am ;-). We share a certain sardonic cast of mind. We’re all fairly bookish and artsy. NONE of us — me or them — are kick-ass. One of these days I’m going to do a riff on the KICK ASS HEROINE and how much I dislike her.
of all my heroines, maybe Julia in WOMAN ON THE RUN is the one closest to my heart because I too have lived in many many places and tried to make each one better, or better suited to me. I really enjoyed writing that book.
SHEILA L — Hmmmm, a book about Marco and Kay? Let me think about that. I have, before me — the second and third Avon Red books to write and sincerely hope they’ll renew the contract. I have the next EC book to finish (that one is very very close to completion) and I have the fourth Midnight book to write, Jacko’s story. But I must say I loved Marco. We’ll see. Thanks for the idea!