Author of the Month

MB: Wow, Charlee. This is so great of you! I'm in awe that you're here. I love your work. Who have you brought with you? The Reapers? Really??? Wait! Where are you going? Charlee...?

TheReapers: Kamerone Cree here answering for my lady who is otherwise engaged at the moment. She agreed to allow me to be her voice, her eyes and ears—if you will. I am honored that she trusts me in this capacity. Her confidence in me means much.

MB: Wow. Um, ok. Please tell us then, why does she write?

TheReapers: Why does she write? In all honesty, I found I could not answer this adequately on my own. I conferred with several of my fellow Reapers—some who are only marginally intelligent—in order to give you what we feel is a correct summation.

According to Arawn Gehdrin: “I once had a long talk with our lady and during the course of the conversation, this topic came up. She told me she ‘had’ to write for to do otherwise was unthinkable. She needed the creative outlet such an endeavor gave her, saying it was imperative that she get the tales out of her head in order to live a normal life.”

“In speaking of having grown up in Georgia as a part of me did, she remarked that when she was a child, she had a very active fantasy life and received numerous punishments for telling extraordinary lies,” Viraidan Cree put in. “It seemed a natural extension of those wild prefabrications to channel them into writing.”

“Her writing keeps her sane,” Gabriel Leveche added.

“Yet there is a measure of insanity in her writing,” Tariq of Theriste surmised.

MB: Very interesting. You all seem to work so well together at this interview thing. Care to sit down? I'm getting a crick in my neck looking up at you all...thanks! Much better, no? Are any of you shorter than six feet? Well, er, never mind. How long has Charlee been writing?

TheReapers: “I believe she’s been writing since age ten when she wrote a western novel called Western Flame for the love of her life at that time: Michael Landon,” Prince Cair Ghrian reminded us. “She tends to write tales for those men she finds attractive.”

“Having used the actor Gerard Butler as a form for at least two of us, myself included,” Arawn related.

The Prime Reaper shrugged. “I don’t see what makes him so special to her and he talks oddly but then I’m not bent toward my own gender.”

“She says he’s frigging gorgeous,” Leksi Helios pronounced, “so I guess that makes you frigging gorgeous, Ari.”

“Aye, right,” Arawn snorted.

MB: *koff koff koff* Ah. well, Gerald Butler is quite--

TheReapers: Kamerone: Since she just passed her fifty-eighth year, that’s quite a long time to be creating worlds and developing The Reapers, Shadowlords, NightWinds, and WyndMasters.

“May she create many more of us,” Khiershon Cree, bloodson of Kamerone suggested. “But no more Shadowlords or Amazeens. We are being overrun by those inferior beings!”

MB: A toast then. No more of them. Hear! Hear!

[The waitress was tipped amply to clean the mess. I don't think the Reapers expected mango tea....]

MB: Now then, all is good. No worries about the spill. Did Charlee ever speak of what stirred her interest in writing?

TheReapers: “I believe it was the ability to spin a fine tale,” Cynyr Cree commented. “And it seems her readers enjoy what she creates. Her interest in the paranormal has certainly held her in good stead and that interest seems to have been around since she was a very small child.”

“That was because her childhood was spent at the knee of her Irish grandfather while he spun wild tales then handed the story off to our lady for her to give him an ending,” Tariq told us. “She learned much from him and he encouraged her to create dark fantasy stories of her own. I believe that is what made her want to write, to put the stories down for her own children to read.”

“Pete and Mike,” Bevyn Coure spoke up.

“And the grandkids, Preston and Victoria,” Gabriel Leveche added.

“Aye, those are her sweet ones,” the ancient one, Cainer Cree insisted. “She told me when she was older she would watch old horror movies on television late at night with her mother and rewrite them in her own fashion.” He chuckled. “Her renditions had to have been better than some of the horrid B movies of the 1950s! Remember Plan Nine From Outer Space, warriors?”

“Klaatu barada nikto!” Leksi Helios said with a grin and a wag of his dark brows.

Kamerone: You don’t want to get me started about robots and cybots and the like! They are a blight on humanity as I see it.

“You see everything as a blight on humanity, Papa,” Khiershon said.

Kam is a blight on humanity,” Viraidan insisted.

MB: Gentlemen, please. Let's all play nice for a bit, shall we? Charlee did trust you to handle this interview...did she mention when she was coming back? No? The waitress will be right back with your drinks. Any moment. That might be her...I guess not. Well, we'll push on. I wondered if you knew what excites Charlee so much about writing?

TheReapers: Kamerone again: I can answer that for her. She likes being able to build new worlds and populate them with creatures she has fashioned. When she began telling my tale, she spent hours daydreaming about what I would look like, what I would wear, what manner of speech I would have. She said the more she thought of my character the more excited she became to write the story. I believe it was the sight of that weakling with the mask that looks like the front end of an ancient Edsel that made her first think of giving me a completely black uniform and to make me a warrior all other men fear.”

MB: Do you mean Darth Vader? I hardly think that "weakling" amply describes--

TheReapers: “Oh, yeah. I’m shaking in my boots just being near your bad ass,” Viraidan Cree mumbled with a roll of Reaper trademark amber eyes.

“Me, too,” Gabriel Leveche chuckled and raised his hand to give the bog monster Viraidan a high-five.

MB: Well, then, why write romance?

TheReapers: “Why not?” Lord Riel Evann-Sin inquired. “Our lady is a very sensuous-minded creature with…”

“A wicked sense of humor,” Bevyn Coure interrupted.

“Aye, that too,” Riel agreed, “but it is that blatant sexuality that it seems all Southern women have that makes romance so important a part of her writing. There must be sweetness and light to the darkness she gives us.”

“I, for one, am glad she adds romance to the tale,” Khiershon Cree insisted. “Where would we be without our lady-wives? She might give us trials and tribulations with our mates but then she gives us ways to overcome those obstacles. It is the angst and suffering that makes the endings so sweet.”

“But she could have made our mates less obstinate and stubborn,” Leksi Helios complained.

“Where’s the fun in a docile mate?” Viraidan Cree demanded. “The romance our lady gives us is a challenge and adds to the overall importance of the tale. I like it when Bronwyn doesn’t always melt into my arms and I have to chase her shapely butt to have my wicked way with her.”

“See, that’s what I’m talking about!” Khiershon declared.

Kamerone: “No one is listening to you, brat.”

MB: I too enjoy the romance in her books, but I find the word-building to be breathtaking. Ah--at last, the waitress. Drink up, gentlemen. Sorry about the tea. I thought that Charlee--but no matter. Enjoy! By the way, what romance category currently interests Charlee? And why do you think that is?

TheReapers: “She’s always interested in dark fantasy and sword & sorcery. Mix that with SF/Futuristic and the erotica and you have our lady,” Gabriel Leveche comments. “I believe she has a book coming out that is based on ancient Egyptian mythology—something to do with Anubis—called Shades of the Wind and there are two contemporary horror stories due out next year. Combine that with the story of my good friend Ryden Bakari, the Burgon of Aduaidh, and you’ll see she has many interests and not just one.”

“The woman is a paragon of complexities,” Viraidan says.

Kamerone: One day when I had nothing better to do with my time, I spoke with that little twerp who calls himself her Muse—that ugly little warthog whom she allows to sit on her shoulder and whisper into her ear and who talks like that Butler bastard—and he says she will be beginning a new series of books called the WyndRaider Chronicles. The little idjut wouldn’t tell me what they were going to be about but I gather the badass who is the hero looks like you-know-who and the villain looks like Vin Diesel. He did say one is a vampire and the other a leech, whatever that signifies.

MB: A new series! that is exciting. How is that project coming along? Is that her current project? Or is there another book she's working on first?

TheReapers: Kamerone: “She’s writing tales for that insipid Scotsman, Gerard Butler, I tell you! I believe the one she is working on now is called The WyndMaster’s Son. It is a sequel to The WyndMaster’s Lady which will be coming out from Samhain Publishing next year. At last count, she was a little over 40K into the story and it was just getting good according to her.”

“I’ve been reading it over her shoulder while I massage her neck and…” Arawn Gehdrin informed us.

Kamerone: “Suck up.”

“The story is about a young prince whose father is the legendary WyndMaster, a swordsman of note,” Gehdrin continues. “He has learned his warrior skills at his father’s knee and is a man with whom to reckon.”

“I’ve read it, too, and he’s a pussy cat,” Gabriel Leveche snorts.

“The prince meets a young princess from a neighboring country who is a match for him with a sword. Her men capture him and she forces him into marrying her, tying him to her bed to consummate the Joining. It is a story of how she wins his heart but how he loses her to a pirate’s insatiable lust.”

“Man can’t keep his woman,” Viraidan Cree said with a shake of his head. “Obviously he’s not a Reaper.”

“No, Cree,” Gehdrin hissed from between clenched teeth. “He’s a WyndMaster.”

“WyndMaster, schminmaster,” Viraidan Cree growled. “Reapers don’t lose their women.” He glanced at Cynyr. “Well, not all of us, anyway.”

Side-mutter from Kamerone: I didn’t tell the bog head when the gunslinging Reaper actually lowered himself to stick his tongue out at Aidan. Aidan has quite a formidable temper when roused and since he is the oldest of us, we owe him a modicum of respect--that I choose not to show him as a general rule.

MB: *Koff* Ah. I see. Some personal questions about Charlee, then, if I may. Is she new to the area or is she a long time resident of her home?

TheReapers: “Our lady has lived in her present home in Iowa for fifteen years. Before that she lived for eight years in Milton, Florida. Prior to that, that sissy she calls her husband was in the military so they moved around a lot,” Bevyn Coure fielded.

“Tom’s a nice enough fellow but he’s not a Reaper,” Tariq said, “although he does dress as one when he goes to her booksignings and he always goes to her booksignings.”

“The man loves his woman, I’ll give him that,” Bevyn agreed. “After all, he gave her a building for behind their house as her office. He had that much faith in her writing."

“They’ve been together 40 years,” Leksi Helios comments. “That’s a miracle in this day and age.”

MB: To be sure. Not an easy task by any means. What of her family? Where is she from originally?

TheReapers: "“"She was born in Florida but grew up in Georgia,” Tariq replied. “You know, of course, she was adopted at birth?” He shook his head sadly. “Unfortunately, our lady knows very little of her real family. The State of Georgia would only tell her that her father was killed before she was born and that she has two sisters and a brother somewhere on Terra. The family who adopted her made her their only child and spoiled her beyond imagination. She was greatly loved by them.”

MB: That is a wonderful story. There are so many children waiting for loving homes. I think more folks should consider adoption. It's so important to children and adults alike. I'm glad that Charlee found a nurturing and caring environment, a place where her imagination could grow and thrive. Where would we be without you Reapers?

[Those Reapers, as a whole, have an unnerving stare.]

MB: How about her past professional careers?

TheReapersShe has held many jobs over the years,” Gabriel Leveche replies. “She has sold shoes, waited tables, answered phones, worked for many years as a dental assistant and then for six years as the parish secretary of her Catholic church…”

“A job she truly loved but did not care for the priest for whom she worked,” Kheirshon added.

Kamerone: Don’t get me started about priests, either!

“Don’t get him started about anything,” Viraidan Cree ordered.

Kamerone: Eat feces and expire, bog man.

“Boys, boys,” Cainer Cree warned. “Let’s keep to the program here.”

MB: Yes, please. staying on the program and all that.... Is that Charlee coming back? I love that color on her. That's not her? Oh, yes, she was wearing something else other than that...but that's fine. We have more ground to cover. *koff* Is there anything unique about her upbringing that you know know she'd be comfortable sharing? Do these experiences contribute to her writing in any way?

TheReapers: “Our sweet lady had a mild case of polio when she was five years old. She spent an entire year unable to close her left eye,” Lord Riel Evann-Sin replied. “She had to stay in bed and she once said that she would lay there and make up stories in her head because she couldn’t read yet and at that time her family had not embraced the new electronic gadget called the television. While her mother ran the family restaurant and her father drove semi trucks all over the country, she would spin tales to her stuffed animals and dolls and then relate them to the black woman who kept house for them. Perhaps the tales she created back then have somehow found themselves into the stories she tells today.”

“I remember her saying that on the day she was taken to the hospital and her family was given the diagnosis of the polio, that the sight of halls full of iron lungs terrified her and she likened them to robots she’d seen at the movies. She was claustrophobic even then and the thought that she might end up in one of those horrid mechanisms filled her with panic,” Tariq relayed. “The gods were smiling upon our lady for no such fate awaited her but even to this day she has dreams of those machines churning away, the helpless people inside seen only in the reflection of a mirror showing their faces.”

Kamerone: If you look closely when she smiles, you will notice one of her eyes does not close as much as the other. That is a holdover from the polio.

MB: Wow, I had no idea! A frightening close call! I was not raised during that generation but my family would tell stories of older sibling and friends who faced the iron lung. Then there was the president who had a serious case of polio and had to do state business in a wheelchair. I'm glad that polio has a vaccine. Did you say, "new gadget known as the television?" No no, I'm not meaning to insult. I was surprised that's all. And upon reflection, not surprised. Looking back on my life there have been many changes in technology, so I can understand it. I grew up without cable tv. Oh, the horror....! How about Charlee's special interests or hobbies? Our readers would love to get to know her on a personal level.

TheReapers: Kamerone: “Other than torturing Reapers and foisting those persistent Amazeens off on them? Well, she likes to cook and she’s very good at it. Her specialty is, naturally, Southern cuisine. She can crochet but with the tunnel carpal operations she’s had, it is difficult for her to hold the—what do you call the little pointy thing that plucks up the yarn?”

“Hook,” Tariq supplies.

“Aye, the hook. She can’t hold it easily. She plays the guitar and the piano but that is beginning to be difficult for her, too. She collects little dust-gatherers of the Egyptian god Anubis, Grim Reapers—of course—and gargoyles.”

“She also has a large collection of stars,” Cainer Cree reminded us. “Star boxes, star statues, star candy dishes and candleholders, star photograph frames, star this and star that.”

“I’ve never understood about those stars,” Lord Riel Evann-Sin states.

“Something about Dark Star Publications,” Arawn Gehdrin explained. “They were one of her publishers. It’s the same reason she has those silly plastic turtles on her desk. That represents another of her defunct publishers.”

“Don’t forget the horror things on the outside of her office,” Kheirshon said. “The All Hallow’s Eve decorations she has beside the front door.”

“Or the wicker turkeys, chicken, and geese she has on the cornice boards in her den and breakfast room,” Bevyn Coure adds.

“Oh, aye, and the little miniature chairs she collects!” Bevyn Coure chimed in.

Kamerone: "She’s a veritable pack rat."

“You know, she likes to go to movies that have—as she calls it: Cinematic Splash—and…” Cynyr Cree puts in.

“What does Cinematic Splash constitute, Cyn?” Arawn inquired.

“Like Pirates of the Caribbean or Batman Begins or War of the Worlds, Ari,” Cynyr answered. “Action and noise and intensity of storyline.”

“All things she likes to write into her tales,” Tariq said with a nod.

“She never misses certain television shows, either,” Leksi Helios pipes up. “Lost, Grey’s Anatomy, Nip/Tuck, The Unit, NCIS, Rome, Deadwood, The Closer, Rescue Me.”

“Very eclectic taste in entertainment,” Khiershon comments.

“I wouldn’t know. I don’t watch such frivolous things,” Gabriel Leveche tells us.

“Don’t forget her reading habits,” Arawn said. “That is eclectic, too. John Grisham, John Saul, John Sandford…”

“She likes her johns, huh?” Khiershon asked with a chuckle.

“Most erotica writers, do,” Tariq replied with a grin.

MB: <choke> No, no. I'm fine. Just went down the wrong way. Yes, the mango tea again.

TheReapers: “Then there’s Andrew Greeley, Brian Lumley, Michael Connelly, David Wiltse, Dean Koontz, Robin Cook, Dennis Lehane, Stuart Woods…” Ari continued.

“All men writers, then?” Lord Riel Evann-Sin questioned.

“No, she has some female favorites like Mary Higgins Clark, Shirlee Busbee, Rosemary Rogers, Christine Feehan, Sherilyn Kenyon, Jude Devereaux, and Johanna Lindsey,” Arawn replied.

Kamerone: There is also her great affinity for Celtic music. She has scores of CDs with those rousing tunes on them.

MB: Any additional information you want to provide our readers?

TheReapers: Kamerone: I suppose what you need to understand most about our lady is that she is good to us—in her fashion. She might torture us, make life nearly unbearable for us, but in the end she always makes sure we are with our mates. Now that isn’t always the case with her WindLegends novels. That silly Conar McGregor has been given the brunt of our lady’s torturing. It seems to me if he would just stand up to her… But I digress.

Our lady is a very compassionate woman and she is a staunch defender of animal rights. She has little time for stupid people and even less time for people who deliberately hurt others. In her way, she will get even with those people who annoy or irritate her. They might find themselves in one of her tales with a corn cob up their…

Just know that she loves to write and dearly loves her readers. She answers every email or letter sent to her and looks forward to hearing from those who have embraced her work. Tell your readers to visit her on her webpage at www.windlegends.org . There they will find synopses, excerpts and over 600 reviews of her novels plus a large writer/reader research area, photos of her home and work life and her annoying little cats, a glossary on Reapers—perhaps the most important thing on the website—and various and sundry other tidbits to amuse the surfer. You may also remind your readers that there are three free stories there for them to get a taste of her work.

But I suggest they be very careful. A little taste of her work will usually turn into a feast!

MB: So very true! It was your story, Kam--may I call you Kam? Ok, Kamerone--that brought me into the fold. Such an amazing tale. Oh! Um, except for the torture. I'm sorry that you had to live through that. Look! That is Charlee! She's waving to you guys from the car. Leaving? So soon? You have another appointment? Well it's been a pleasure. Take care....

Wow.... Those are some intense dudes. And some incredibly intense stories. Love you Charlee!!!

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