Is that really your Corvette in your publicity photos?
Yes, that's really my baby. I've had it for years, before I ever started writing or sold my first book. We bought it cheap and restored it, my husband doing all the work. He was so sweet about it, first thing he wanted to do was pretty it up, but I told him that could come later, right now he needed to make it go faster. And he did. He was also very smart; after he did all that work, I could hardly complain when he wanted to build a toy of his own, now could I?

Your bio says you spent years in law enforcement. What did you do?
Yes, my first real job (I skipping the brief time I spent at a concrete plant that made, among other things, burial vaults) was at a city police department in Southern California. As for what I did, I'm glad to finally get the chance to clear this up. I was sworn, but I was not a street cop. So what does that mean? It's sometimes confusing to those outside--and apparently even to some cops who came along later, at a time when everyone but them is a civilian and they think it was always that way. But I digress. There are generally two categories of jobs at a police department: sworn and non-sworn. Non-sworn or civilians are the support personnel, clerks, secretaries, etc. Sworn are the police officers themselves, and, back in the dark ages when I started, communications. When I got the job (and was, I admit somewhat proudly, the first female they'd ever hired, and felt kind of lonely among 100 men. But it paid off in ways I never imagined!) I took the oath, and accepted the responsibilities, right alongside the rest of the new guys. As it ended up years later, I was the last sworn (they called it "safety personnel" back then) person in my category in the state of California. When I finally retired to write full time, the folks who track such things in Sacramento were so glad to be able to close out the computer category they'd kept open for years just for me, that they paid for my retirement badge!

Are you going to write any more futuristics?
Would I like to? Yes. I loved them, and the story of the kids that naturally would follow from LORD OF THE STORM and THE SKYPIRATE is still in the pot, bubbling away. I had the book mapped out, my editor liked the concept, but unfortunately marketing of futuristics became problematical and my publisher quit buying them. They also wanted more romantic suspense, a type of book I also love to do. It would be very difficult to go back and do that final futuristic for a regular publisher now, I'm afraid. I may just have to pull a Stephen King and publish it in bits here on the website!

When are you going to write Tal's story? (the wizard from FIRE HAWK)
I can't tell you how delighted I am that people fell so hard for that character! So did I, and I have the most wonderful story to tell about him. He's made it to the present day, you see, and has found a very different way to use his considerable talents. The problem just now is that, as I mentioned, my publisher wants more romantic suspense from me, so Tal's on the back burner for now. I truly hope he will eventually emerge, although I can't say when or where. He may not be immediately recognizable when he does-he's a wizard, after all--however I'll make sure his identity is clear to those who know how to look. And of course, I'll let you in on it here.

Are you going to write more Trinity Wests?
I've learned never to say never, but at this point it's doubtful. I loved writing the series, still get mail about it, (what was it about Ryan Buckheart?) but by the time I reached Clay's story, I knew it was over. The whole series built up to that book, and anything after that would seem like an awkward, not quite integral addition.