10 Questions with Susan Rae

So, here we are again for Musaling Monday and I flubbed it. This post is late due to technical difficulties on my end. Mostly that I am a luddite living in the technoage. Now, onto to Susan.

Susan Rae received her Bachelor of Arts Degree from Columbia College, Missouri with
a concentration in Creative Writing. Romantic suspense is a natural to her, because it allows her
to combine her love of a good mystery with a passionate love story. Her first novel, Heartbeats
earned numerous awards, including Best First Book by First Coast Romance Writers. Freefall
is Susan’s second novel. When she is not writing, she enjoys golfing and traveling around the
country seeking out new settings for her novels with her husband and her empty nest puppies,
Ginger and Nikute. Please visit her at www.susanrae.com.

First the easy one. Can you tell us a little bit about yourself?

I have always been writing something since I was in grade school when I penned a melodrama for the Girl Scout Drama badge—short stories, news articles, poems, novels.  I like writing romantic suspense because it lets me combine a spicy romance with an intriguing mystery—the best of both worlds, in my opinion. And not so much different, really, than that melodrama I penned all those years ago!

2. If you were a superhero, what would be your power?

Flying.  I’d love to soar over the mountains, lakes, and cities, observing all life has to offer, before I swoop down to Earth to do my thing.

3. Would you wear a cape and tights? Describe your costume and give yourself a cool super name.  I’m not sure about the cape and tights.  Instead of a cape, I think wings—the kind where you extend your arms and bring them out, like bat wings, very dramatic. They would also let me do a lot of gliding, like an eagle, except, unlike an eagle’s, they would be red, my favorite color.  As for the tights, maybe...but under a short skirt.  A cool name?  I don’t think of myself as cool so much... I think I’d like something dramatic, to go along with the outfit.  I’ll have to think on it.

4. Pimp it if you’ve got it. What’s new or next for you?

My second novel, Freefall, was just released by Musa.  Freefall is a steamy romantic suspense written in the same vein as my award winning novel, Heartbeats.  When Kate Reynolds’s brother’s plane crashes on takeoff from Milwaukee’s Timmerman Field, Kate flies from San Francisco to be at his bedside and comes face-to-face with suave pilot/mechanic Everett Larsen. His gray gaze ignites in her a passion as powerful as a jet stream, but it also sparks a memory…one she can’t quite reel in.   As for DEA agent Everett Larsen, he has come to Milwaukee seeking answers to his former special ops buddy’s plane crash, but he is unprepared for the torrent of emotion he feels when he sees Kate—after his wife’s death, he thought himself no longer capable of such emotion.  He is afraid to love again; but when Kate gets too close to the truth, he is even more afraid to lose her.

 Fans who have read Heartbeats will be pleased to know that Drake McGuire returns in Freefall to help in the investigation.  I have to admit, I’m partial to the setting in freefall.  The intrigue takes us from a small airfield in the Kettle Moraine Forest to the beautiful vistas and waters of Door County, Wisconsin, one of my favorite places to visit.  You can read an excerpt from Freefall at www.susanrae.com.

As for what’s coming in 2013, I will have two new novels out with Musa Publishing.  ICE Blue and TRUE Blue are both romantic suspense novels that continue the story of the DeLuca family which I began in Heartbeats.

 
**Interviewer's note** You had me at "steamy", Susan. You had me at "steamy."

5. What evil villain would be your arch nemesis?

I’m afraid I don’t do evil villains per se. I think my arch nemeses would be all those real, tortured villains that may appear to be good on the outside, but hide the evil deep within themselves until they perpetrate their evil acts on some unsuspecting person—or worse yet, on a child.  However, given the definition of nemesis, I have to say, it is the evil itself that invades these people that would be my arch enemy, as it seems that no matter how many you take down, there is always one more out there to take his/her place.

 

Would he have a cape and tights?

No, he or she would look just as normal as the next person, which would make them even more evil.

 

7. What author or book influenced you the most as a writer?

I have been influenced by so many writers, but if I were to pick one, it would have to be Louisa Mae Alcott.  When I read Little Women as a preteen, I realized I could be a writer, too, like Jo.  I totally related to Jo.  She was a tough young woman who didn’t take no for an answer.  I even got to play her in our school’s eighth grade production.  Talk about typecasting. Yes, Jo is a fictional character, but I believe she is Alcott’s own vision of herself.

 

8. What was your favorite meal as a child? Do you still like it?

Spaghetti.  And yes, I still like it, but a much more authentic Italian version of it with sausage and meatballs that I make from my husband’s family recipe.

 

9. Your arch nemesis has attacked your hometown, oh noes! You are in Marrakesh settling a zombie uprising. The fastest way to travel is this:

Does your hometown die while waiting for you to hop a commercial flight?

First of all, I don’t see how a snake is going to get me from Marrakesh to my home town.  Second, I am so much larger than the snake, I don’t see how that would work either, unless I could take some pill like Alice in Wonderland and shrink down to the size of that snail.  Third, I have the super power of flying; I don’t need the snake!

  

10. Instead of truth or dare, we are just going to jump right to the rejection haiku. I enjoyed reading them so much that I’m making them a regular feature. Hey, rejection is one of the great universal commonalities as a writer. So, write us a rejection haiku. Please? (see that last part was a question. Sneaky, right?)

No, like lava, boils

raises the temperature of try

to do...succeed.

If steamy suspense is your thing (and if it isn't, what is wrong with you? Seriously?), you can pick up Susan's books from the Musa Publishing store, Amazon, or Barnes and Noble. Susan has just started a virtual blog tour. For more details, check out her website. Go get you some steamy suspense today. That's not an order, more like a friendly suggestion by a mom with your best interests at heart. Why are you still reading this post and not Susan?

You're still here? Fine. Leave a nice comment for Susan and go read her books.