AUTHOR INTERVIEW – PAMELA CLARE

*Good morning, Pamela! And thanks for taking a minute to stop by the blog. Tell us a little about who you are and what you write.

Thanks so much for having me as a guest! I really appreciate it.

I am a former investigative journalist and newspaper editor-in-chief and a single mother of two adult sons. My degree is in classical archaeology — Latin, Greek, Romans and the like. I started writing historical romance with my first historical hitting shelves in 2003. In 2005, I began writing romantic suspense with my I-Team series. I left journalism in 2011, and now I write full time. I live in Boulder, Colorado, so my writing view every day is the Rocky Mountains.

*Talk about inspiration! And by the way, I am envious of your background, which must come in helpful in your I-Team series. Speaking of, for those who haven’t heard of your I-Team series, tell us what it’s all about.

Working as an investigative reporter can be dangerous at times, and over the course of my career I faced numerous death threats, had two stalkers, had a gun held on me twice, and saw things no one wants to see. One evening when I was chatting with my agent about my second historical novel, which was in the works, I mentioned that I’d gotten a phone call from a state official who was worried about my safety. He’d been to a factory I was investigating and had heard the plant manager whipping up the employees into a rage over my articles. The official’s exact words were, “These guys aren’t going to write you a letter to the editor. They’re going to beat the shit out of you with baseball bats.”

I told my agent what he’d said. I wasn’t upset or scared. I’d heard things like this before and was simply passing on the news. My agent got very quiet for a moment and then said, “You ought to write romantic suspense because you live it.”

And I said, “Yeah—except for the ‘romantic’ part.”

That’s how the I-Team series started. The stories are based, loosely sometimes, on real work I did as an investigative reporter. The word “I-Team” refers to the Investigative Team that is the focus of the series—a team of hand-picked, hardcore investigative reporter heroines whose work lands them in life-threatening situations where they meet the dangerous men who become their heroes.

There are five full-length novels and two novellas in the series at this point, with the sixth novel, Striking Distance, slated for release on Nov. 5.

Striking Distance tells the story of Laura Nilsson, a broadcast journalist, and Javier Corbray, an active-duty Navy SEAL. Here’s the blurb from the back of the book:

Her past is a secret—even to her.
Discovering it will be the most dangerous move of her life.

TV reporter Laura Nilsson, known as the “Baghdad Babe,” spent eighteen months in an Al-Qaeda compound after being kidnapped live on the air. Two years later, she’s still wondering why.

No mission in Javier Corbray’s fourteen years as a Navy SEAL affected him the way Laura’s rescue did. No woman had stirred his protective instincts the way she did. And he wants her more than he’s ever wanted anyone.

As Laura and Javier’s passion ignites, so does Laura’s need to discover the mystery of her past. Especially when she learns that her abduction was not random—and that she’s still a target for a killer with an impenetrable motive. Now Javier will have to rely on his skills to keep the woman he loves from being struck down before she dares uncover the truth.

There are excerpts on my website for all the I-Team books.

*Death threats? Guns drawn on you? I’m speechless. Make that wordless. Wow.

I see your series is now available in audiobook format. Congratulations! I am a huge proponent of audiobooks for the busy reader. (I’ve just downloaded my copy of Breaking Point, by the way.) Did you have much input on who was chosen to narrate? And do the performances illustrate the characters as you intended while writing them?

Thank you! I love audiobooks, so I was really excited about this.

I have been so incredibly lucky when it comes to the narration. I was told at the outset that I would have no input into who narrated my stories, but I felt very strongly that my books needed a male narrator. The stories revolve so heavily around the actions and personalities of the alpha male heroes, both in the I-Team series and in my historicals, that I felt a male narrator was necessary to do the stories justice. So, having been told I had no say, I took to Twitter, and, with the participation of my readers and the use of hashtags, ran a little campaign. It succeeded.

Tantor Audio gave me my male narrator in the form of Kaleo Griffith, who had never narrated romance before and was somewhat new to audiobooks. We worked more closely together than a lot of authors and narrators, thanks to Kaleo’s desire to learn all he could about the stories and the characters before he started recording. He has a gift for narration and has done an absolutely fabulous job.

I couldn’t be happier with his performances. He brings the characters and all the little emotional moments between them to life. And having a man with a super-sexy voice narrate the sex scenes? These books need to come with a warning about driving and operating heavy machinery, I think. The best part about it is that I’ve become good friends with Kaleo through our interaction on these books.

I was thrilled last month when AudioGals named the I-Team series and Surrender, one of my historicals, as audiobook classics.

Many of my readers have now become listeners, and they seem to be afflicted with a strange syndrome. It’s called OKD — Obsessive Kaleo Disorder. They can’t get enough of Kaleo’s narration.

*Ha! I love that story! First of all, power to the people! Love that you started a campaign to win your valued input! And secondly, I don’t think I’ve ever heard a man narrate a lengthy “love” scene. Looking forward to that!

Are the stories in this series stand alone, or should we read them in order?

The stories absolutely do stand alone, but I think it’s sometimes they’re more impactful if you read them in order. But most people have read them backward, so I know that works. Breaking Point is actually a great place to start. They are pretty spicy, but I do have some limits.

*What first inspired you to write for the romance genre?

I read a lot as a child and a teenager. When I was about fourteen, I read The Flame and the Flower by Kathleen Woodiwiss and fell in love with romantic fiction. After that it was Rosemary Rogers’ Sweet Savage Love and Woodiwiss’s Shanna and The Wolf and the Dove. I’d known since I was about 10 that I wanted to write books one day. After reading my first few romance novels, I knew I wanted to write romance.

*Who are some of your favorite authors in and out of the romance genre? And what are you reading now?

Oh, what a fun question! I could talk about books all day.

I have so many authors whose books I love — Julie James, Jill Shalvis, Monica McCarty, Tara Janzen, Cindy Gerard, Roxanne St. Claire, Marie Force, Norah Wilson, Bonnie Vanak, Vanessa Kelly/VK Sykes, Lila DiPasqua, Elisabeth Naughton, Monica Burns, Kris Kennedy, Mia Marlowe, Erin Kellison, Jennifer Lyon. I could go on…

I still have my copies of Woodiwiss’s books along with other classics, including Rexanne Becnel’s medievals, and several of Julie Garwood’s historicals.

I’m currently reading Kaylea Cross’s DEADLY DESCENT and really enjoying it. She’s a new-to-me author who does a fabulous job with military romance. I’ve got Jessica Scott’s I’LL BE HOME FOR CHRISTMAS up next, followed by Jenn LeBlanc’s THE RAKE AND THE RECLUSE, which is illustrated — yes! — and which I’ve been dying to get to for ages, and then RAZING KAYNE, a romantic suspense title by a new author Julieanne Reeves. On audio, I’m listening to Julie Garwood’s RANSOM, an old favorite.

*Looks like I’ve got some authors/titles to add to my lengthy reading wish list! Is there anything else you’d like everyone to know about you and your books?

Right now, I-Team fans have a lot to be excited about. First Strike, my first erotic contemporary novella which is basically like a movie from www.tubev.sex but a lot steamier and lustful was just released last week. The erotic prequel to Striking Distance (I-Team Book 6), it’s only 99 cents right now.

Breaking Point, which was named one of Amazon’s Top Books of 2011, is on sale for $1.99 through Oct. 30, so that’s a great opportunity for someone who’s new to the series to get started.

And then, of course, Striking Distance, the next full-length book in the I-Team series, will be out on Nov. 5, finishing the story that begins in First Strike. Striking Distance got a Top Pick review from RT Book Reviews, which thrilled me.

I guess the big thing to know about my books is that they’re pretty intense and emotional. The journalist and archaeologist in me demands authenticity, so I do a lot of research prior to writing in an attempt to write a story that feels real and genuine. That’s true of both the I-Team series and my historicals. For Striking Distance, for example, I worked with an active-duty Navy SEAL to get the SEAL elements of the story right.

Also, I love to chat with readers on Facebook and Twitter and do my best to keep up.

Thanks so much for having me here!

Visit Pamela’s Website: www.pamelaclare.com
Follow Pamela on Facebook Twitter and Goodreads
View Pamela’s pretty artwork.