Happy 3rd Birthday, TWRP!

...from all of us in the deepest, darkest corner of the garden.

Imagine an ebony scape cast silvery beneath a hunter's moon. Silhouettes dance in deep shadow. A lone howl pierces the stillness of the night. Rapture and lust beat within the heart of a lone woman who finds herself in the clutches of the most alluring man she has ever met.

Yes, you've entered the dark fantasy of Black Rose.

Allow me to introduce myself properly. I am Callie Lynn Wolfe, Senior editor. I joined TWRP in its first year and cannot believe two and a half years have whizzed by already. I love my job, the company, my staff, and all the wonderfully imaginative authors we gain daily in our little corner.

Black Rose for those who may not be familiar with this line is the home of sensual vamp, sexy weres, and just about any other dark seductive creature you can image. We do love lusty, hot stories but also like the lighter weres, vamp, demon, etc.

Now for a few words from my staff:

Lill Farrell

Lill's Personal Pet Peeves

Run of the mill vampires- you know the kind, they hate garlic sauce on their pizza, won't cross running water (or stand in a hot steamy shower with the heroine), sleep in coffins in a crypt (not even on satin sheets) and talk with Eastern European accents. On the same note are werewolves who howl at the moon, rip their shirts to shreds and leave piles of hair on the couch.

This leads me to what I would like to see

Shifters of a different sort, don't be bound by the idea of werewolves. There are many different animals out there, be unique, take that leap beyond the norm. Darker stories, that delve into the paranormal instead of just hitting the edges, dig deeper, push the boundaries and raise the bar. Readers (including me) want to be taken to places they haven't visited before. I want to be sucked into the pages and forget my surroundings. Create worlds that are so three dimensional that I can reach out and touch them. Immerse your characters into these settings, turn up the emotion, fire up the passion, bring on the darkness.

Write with passion, infuse your stories with emotion and with imagery.

Amanda Barnett

Hi everyone. I'm Amanda Barnett and I have the wonderful honor of being an editor on the Black Rose line. I love what I do and love my authors, present and future.
I love edgy characters, emotion driven plots and sensuality in a manuscript whether it is a vamp or were! Grab me from the first line or two, keep me wanting to read moreand I am happier than an editor with chocolates.

Some thoughts on Vampires, Myths or Truth.

So many authors have many ideas on whether or not vampires or real. I know there are a lot of things in the world, some I truly don't want to know about, and there are always some rumors, myths, etc that support the existence of all types of creatures. Whether or not, our fanged heroes or heroines are facts or creations of an author's vivid imagination, I think we can all agree, this type of character, fascinates us all.

I've read stories of monsters who did not want to be redeemed, vamps who want their souls back and your ordinary fanged variety who prefer to live and let live. What I want to see in the heroes I read about is simply they have the characteristics that make a hero. Give me a long-haired, been burned vamp who is softened by love and I'm putty in an author's hands. I want to experience the emotions of how the I don't need anyone in my life vamp realizes that the only thing important in life, mortal or immortal, is love.

I would love to know your thoughts on what you think make a hero a hero, whether they are fanged or clawed.

Eilidh Mackenzie

On Scottish culture and history...getting the facts right.

As a Scot working in romance publishing, I frequently cringe at the descriptions of Scottish people and history. Subs come over my desk asserting that all of Scotland’s strong young men were killed in the battles with the English. Well, that was true 260 years ago, but a generation later, there was a whole new crop of strong young men.

I’ve lost count of the historical or time travel stories, whose hero, six or seven hundred years ago, is the stereotypical kilted Highlander, the noble underdog, struggling against oppression by the English. Actually, when the Scots weren’t cattle raiding and pillaging their own Highland and Lowland neighbors , they made outright invasions of English territory. The English perpetrated horrific retaliations, but if you bang on a beehive, you gotta expect to be stung.

And they didn’t wear kilts back then! In fact, when the modern kilt became popular in the nineteenth century, it was a fashion statement stimulated by Queen Victoria’s romance with the Highlands. By the time Highlanders fought in kilts, they were fighting for the English, in the British army.

Okay, I’ve calmed down a bit now. I must admit that, of course, Highlanders wore a form of the kilt centuries ago and yes, they fought against the English, but probably not as much as they fought amongst themselves. The original kilt—the belted plaid—showed up around 1600. It was a vast plaid blanket, maybe five feet wide and up to twenty feet long. The wearer scrunched it by handfuls up the middle of the length and belted the bundle around his waist. The plaid fell below the waist to about the knee, and the top half was draped and pinned about the torso.

Sounds awkward, but this was actually a practical garment in the gales, rain, and snow of the Highlands. The naturally dyed colors blended with the heather and gorse of the mountains, so your rival clansmen didn’t catch you stealing their cattle, and the layers of wool kept some warmth trapped against the body. Scratchy, yes, but a linen shirt under the plaid made it comfortable. At night, you could wrap the plaid around yourself, and a friend, if you were lucky, for a cosy sleeping bag.

What does all this have to do with romance novels? Those Highland warriors make superb alpha male heroes. I would dearly love to see manuscripts showing the realities of Highland life, instead of the softened, cartoonish, pretend Scots that never existed. Two excellent resources for learning about the Scotland that actually was are The Emperor’s New Kilt: The Two Secret Histories of Scotland, by Jan-Andrew Henderson, and How the Scots Invented the Modern World, by Arthur Herman.

Proud, me? Actually, I’m much prouder now since I read that last book. We’re amazing people; it’s mind-boggling!

Here’s tae us; wha’s like us?

Damn few, and they’re a’ deid.

(a Scottish toast)

Eilidh MacKenzie

Black Rose Editor

Rene Stephens

Rene couldn't be with us tonight, but here's hoping we'll have a surprise visit before the hour is gone.

Please feel free to shoot us over questions and comments. We look forward to hearing from you.

Callie