Getting to know Author Christine McKay

I’m a pretty demanding reader. I want heart-stopping action, authentic characters, well-rounded villains, and tear-jerking romance. I want to learn and I want anything that is written as a fact to really be a fact (or to be so farfetched I know it can’t possibly be a fact). A bay horse, for instance, better be brown with black points and not palomino, chestnut, pinto or something in between, though if it’s a unicorn, it’s your call as to what is an acceptable color. Get my point? If the hero or heroine is shooting a gun of some sort, unless it’s a prototype, you better count your casings ‘cause I know how many most clips can hold (and if I don’t, one of the men in my life does).

After studying those demands, you can envision a writer developing socially unfriendly stress habits  trying to meet them.

Luckily or unluckily I write. A lot. Nonfiction. Technical documents. Fiction…and more specifically romance.  Odd combination? You wouldn’t be the first to tell me such. And  I hold myself to those same high standards I demand from my favorite writers.  Do I always succeed? Probably not (but I do have a lot of nitpicky fact checkers verifying my work before I submit a piece). Do I try? 100%.

One of my fact checkers, however, has the attention span and reading pace of a seven year old. If the story becomes bogged down, he lets me know. Imagine my surprise when my largest (to this date) completed work of 120,000+ words, The Genesis Clock, not only captured his attention, but held him  the entire ride and inspired him to ask for a sequel when it was finished. Since he was reading the copy as I was writing it, this made me want to swiftly bonk him on the head with a ream of paper.

So what’s this “riveting” paper-wasting behemoth about? First off, it’s from Cerridwen Press and thus an e-book, at least at this time. Secondly, while I hope it captures other people’s attention, there’s always the possibility you’ll pick it up and later wished you’d have opted for a more fulfilling but cheesy SyFy flick (and dear God, if that’s the case, please don’t tell me ‘cause I’d like to think my heroines and villains are a little less paper-cut).

Let’s start with the monsters: dragons, leviathan, angry goddesses, and most of the men in the heroine’s life thus far. Add a couple secret societies, one who wants to use Evie (the heroine) and one who wants to see her dead. Throw in some world travel. Naj Tunich, Easter Island, the Alpilles anyone? Add the requisite plane, horseback, and boat travel.  Don’t forget the evil dude with the cash who knows how to manipulate the heroine and the torn hero, in love with but sent to kill the aforementioned heroine. Enough angst and action for you?  I hope so.

While The Genesis Clock will be my most recent release (available February 25th at www.jasminejade.com), I do have other short stories and novels to my credit. See my website, www.ChristineMcKay.com for details. Judging from what’s there, I have a fetish for Wiccans, magic, dragons, light kink, and contemporary sexually uninhibited characters. It’s frustrating to try to pin me to one genre, though in whatever I write, romance is the unifying theme. My publishers include: Harlequin Spice, Samhain Publishing, Champagne Books, Carnal Passions, Ellora’s Cave and its tamer division, Cerridwen Press.

Before  you become too bored with this post, I want to mention my 2^nd latest release, Loch Dragon’s Lady, a Harlequin Spice Brief available now at www.eharlequin.com. Has the glut of vampire, werewolf, and zombie stories finally gotten to you? Love the paranormal world, but want something fresh? Okay, so dragons might not be totally fresh but I’m willing to bet you haven’t read anything set in the Outer Hebrides of Scotland. And yes, the place does exist. Check out National Geographic’s pictorial spread: http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2010/01/hebrides/warren-text/2. and tell me those photos don’t pique your interest. Now picture a kilt-garbed , shape-shifting  Scottish hunk of a dragon man inhabiting one of the ruins. All I can say is “yum.” Sign me up for that Loch Ness monster hunting trip.

Speaking of trips, this year I’m planning on attending the Romantic Times convention in Columbus, OH, as well as the National Romance Writer’s conference in Nashville, TN, and Ellora’s Cave’s Romanticon, also in Ohio. So if you’d like to meet the insanity behind the keyboard, get my autograph, or buy me a drink (don’t I wish!), look for me in those locations. In lieu of that, you might also find me strutting my stuff (and about 30 lbs or 12 yards of fabric-hogging skirts) at the Bristol Renaissance faire.