Taking Big Chances

     I am gratified and a bit amazed by the popularity of my Sinners sports romances.  Royalties from those books paid for my recent jaunt to Alaska.  Most likely,they won't make me rich, but I will settle for being well-traveled.  While trying to pitch my Regency series to an agent, she just waved her hand and said, "You should stick to the football stories if they sell."  In other words, don't try anything new.  Of course I did anyhow.  I think all writers like to spread their wings a little.  Certainly, an author risks losing fans when starting a new venture.  Hence, taking the Big Chance.
    So, this month my new Mardi Gras series will make its appearance.  The stories vary in time and place, but each one contains a pivotal, life-changing event that happens during Mardi Gras.  The first, an historical titled Queen of the Mardi Gras Ball, takes  place in New Orleans during the late 1920's.  Flapper Rosamond St. Rochelle desperately wishes to defy her family by having a career rather than serving as queen of the ball, chosing the best suitor, and taking up her place as a society matron.  Rosamond's struggles to find herself make for a compelling book that culminates with the Great Flood of 1927.  Yes, a love story is also part of her tale though this is not a traditional romance.
     Mardi Gras Madness has a mystery that intrigues Laura Dickinson, the new librarian in a very small Louisiana town.  Trying to escape her own past, she finds herself embroiled in the history of the Robert LeBlanc family and greatly intrigued by the owner of Chateau Camille though she tries not to admit that.  This one has an old-fashioned Gothic flavor, not a lot of gore but a complex unfolding of events.  The third title in the series, Courir de Mardi Gras, is another mystery, this one unraveling during a country Mardi Gras.  Expect to see it during summer, 2013.
      I have I given up writing Sinners books?  Nope, but the newest one already with the publisher takes a chance, too.  It departs from the Cajun Country I know so well and takes off for American Samoa as Sinners cornerback, Adam Malala, returns to the islands taking with him the serious and rather unadventurous, Winnie Green, the Rev's newly divorced sister-in-law.  Looking for a fling to get over her bad marriage, Winnie is in way over her head in more ways than one.  Paradise for a Sinner should be out by March, 2013.
     When taking big chances like these, an author can only hope her readers will go along on the new ride and enjoy a different kind of adventure.