A quickie with…Karly Lane

Photo: www.karlylane.com

Karly Lane was a panellist at ARRC 2011, and Allen & Unwin has just released her latest Australian rural fiction novel, North Star. The book is also featured in the Get Reading! campaign’s list of 50 Books You Can’t Put Down.

Lane is the alter ego of romance author Karlene Blakemore-Mowle, whose romantic suspense books are published by The Wild Rose Press. She also has an Australian contemporary romance published by Eternal Press under this pseudonym.

Website: www.karlylane.com
Social networks: Blog
Genre: Romantic suspense, Rural lit
New release: North Star (16/4/2011)

Where you do your best writing

In my little area I like to call control central! Smack bang in the middle of the house where I can see all exit points and child movements.

Favourite thing in your writing space

My CD player.

Best food and/or beverage to accompany a good read

This may seem strange, but I freeze my West Coast Coolers (kinda like a lazy man’s frozen margarita!)

One thing you would never do in the name of research

Touch a frog!

How friends and family would describe you two days before a deadline

Like a ticking time bomb…do. not. make. any. sudden. movements!

One book you’d save in an emergency and three words to describe it

Cross Stitch by Diana Gabaldon. Best. Book. Ever!

Your life in a book—what would the title be? In which genre or category would it be shelved?

Once, she was sane. Dark comedy/self-help

One book you loved as a child

The Magic Faraway Tree by Enid Blyton

Describe yourself as the heroine of a romance novel

Karly always dreamed of being the martial arts, butt-kickin’, long-legged, sexy vampire killer type, but unfortunately at the first scent of terror, when her fight or flight response kicked in, she did neither. Instead, she created a brand new nervous system response that made her freeze up and gape in terror like a stunned mullet. She would need a hero. A man who wasn’t afraid to jump in and save the day—and hence, her butt—at the crucial moment. But as in all good romance, although she may be as useful as the proverbial boobs on a bull in a crisis, it will be her skills in other areas that bring the hero to his knees and ultimately save the day! To discover what these skills are, you’ll have to read the book! (One day I might just write it, too!)

Best advice for surviving the zombie apocalypse

Don’t fight it; just go with it. It’s not worth all the running and screaming. I mean, really? You want to to be the last human alive trying to outrun a whole city of zombies?

Favourite method of procrastination

Procrastination is such a harsh word…I do sometimes forget the time once I get on Facebook and Twitter to see what everyone’s been up to lately…I like to see it as…oh, all right, it’s procrastination!!! But it’s useful procrastination!

Do you kill fairies?

Gee, I’m glad you clarified that question. I was shocked when I first read that! What kind of deprived mind kills fairies?! I remember I used to as a kid, but I don’t any more.

NORTH STAR

Allen & Unwin | 9781742374826 (C format) | Excerpt

Since her divorce a year ago, Kate Thurston feels like she’s lurched from one disaster to another. Her teenage daughter, Georgia, seems to have morphed into a monster overnight, and her son Liam breaks her heart with his sad brown eyes.

When Kate receives news that her grandfather has bequeathed her North Star, the vast property that has been in her family for generations, it feels like the perfect opportunity to flee the hectic pace of city life for a calmer rural existence.

As soon as she arrives at North Star, however, Kate realises she’s going to need every ounce of determination to restore the rundown homestead to its former glory and fulfil her dream of turning it into a bush retreat. And as for the farm, well it’s in utter disarray.

As she starts to make headway with the homestead’s restoration, and falls for a local bloke, Kate finally feels like life is going right for her. Then her ex-husband comes to town and triggers a series of events that will change her life forever…

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As part of Aussie Author Month, we’re running a series of Q&A-type posts featuring authors who write romance fiction or fiction with romantic elements. Each post will feature the same set of questions or prompts. We tried to make them fun and easy for the authors—and we hope you enjoy them, too!