I live in Yorkshire, in the UK, a few miles from the village of Cottingley. The village is famous for pictures taken in 1917 by two local schoolchildren. Frances and Elsie took photos of what they claimed were fairies at the bottom of the garden at the side of Cottingley Beck. One of their fathers developed the plates and declared the images to be fakes, but news got out and they were examined by an expert who decided they were real. Even Sir Arthur Conan Doyle – creator of Sherlock Holmes- thought they were genuine and wrote a book about them.

The photos don’t look so convincing these days but they certainly had people all over the world wondering for years. In 1981 Frances and Elsie admitted they’d held up cut-out fairies with hatpins, though Frances continued to maintain they had seen fairies for real and the fifth picture was genuine. Hmm!

I love gardens with walls. The Secret Garden was a favourite read of mine. I love the idea of something mysterious just waiting to be discovered. Although the Cottingley girls faked those photos, how fantastic that for so many years people wondered if they were real. Maybe that fifth photo says there really are fairies at the bottom of the garden. Off to look at mine….

In my book Worlds Apart – there’s something at the bottom of Taylor’s garden on the other side of a stone wall. When he was a boy, he saw what lay on the far side but as a grown-up – he sees something different. I hope you’ll read the book and find out for yourselves what’s at the bottom of his garden.

www.barbaraelsborg.com
www.barbaraelsborg.blogspot.com

As many people know, I lived in Hawaii for three years. I have been back twice and it is now becoming a yearly (or more than yearly) visit for me. Why?Since the HARMLESS books are set in Hawaii for the most part,  I can write part of the trip off of taxes. This time, though, I got to do something extra special. I love going with my family and enjoying Hawaii, don't get me wrong. Our youngest was born there and such as military life, she was only 27 months old when we left, so she only has hazy memories and pics we show her. So the spring of 2010, that trip served the purpopse. This time, though, I got to take my best friend and personal assistant, Brandy Walker. We were on a mission, ya see. A mission to get some HAWAIIAN GOODIES.

It was definitely a different experience going to Hawaii with someone who had never been there.  I could show her all the different places that locals go, places I have mentioned to her, and just enjoy the beauty of the islands. I actually wish we had at least two weeks there so we could island hop, but that just wasn't going to happen cuz I think our hubbies would revolt, lol. One of the greatest things on the trip, and i think Brandy agrees with me, was the trip to the Aloha Swap Meet. It is THE place on Oahu to visit for all the Hawaiian goodies you want to take home. Entry fee is 1 buck per person and it is worth it. Brandy and I came home with so much stuff to give away, including my Big Giveaway for the Brenda Novak Diabetes Auction. And, when I meet up with the Harmless Addicts in New Orleans for Authors After Dark, I will have a bunch of goodies to give them straight from Hawaii. I am now convinced I need to do this once a year, but Mr. Mel is very skeptical for some reason. Check out Wayde's World Video on it. Safe for work and definitely a great overview!

But, beyond the goodie shopping, I wanted to show Brandy what I talk about in my books. Hawaii isn't just a place on the map. Not for the people who live there–just like Aloha is not a just aword. It is a state of mind, one that you can only appreciate if you take the time to pay attention. Along with the hustle and bustle that makes up Oahu, and it has 800K+ on that little island, there is an underlying state of mind. No one is really in a hurry, and you should always help your neighbor out.  One of the things I like to always point out, though, is that they are people. They are just you and me, and everyone else you know. They have the same problems, the same issues with family and work, but, there is that spirit there that just makes it so much easier to handle.

Another great thing is I got to show Brandy my favorite drive, a few of them in fact, and we even went to the Dole Plantation. I also stopped by my old stomping grounds of Hickam AFB where lived when Mr Mel was stationed there. A trip to Hawaii is not complete for the Schroeders unless we hit up one of the bases for Mongolian BBQ. It was a little crazier than normal this time, but for those of you who have never been, there is a table filled with fruits, nuts, veggies, and extras (brown sugar, ginger, etc) then you add whatever meat you want and they cook it for you. It is SCRUMPTIOUS. It also allowed us to stop by the Missing Man Formation on base. 

But as they say, all good things must come to an end. I am already trying to plan another trip back later this year so that I can pick up goodies for the next AAD, and I am really looking forward to it. It is one of the few places we lived where I feel the need to get everyone to love it…because there is so much there to love.

And, if you want to keep up with all things Hawaiian and Harmless, make sure you are an ADDICT.

Aloha and A hui ho,

Mel

In 2001, Shakira released her album “Laundry Service”.  On that record is the excellent song, “Underneath Your Clothes”.  Her lyrics tell us, “You own the place where all my thoughts go hiding, right under your clothes is where I find them”. When we read our romance novels, aren’t we all waiting for that scene where we finally get to see the secret underneath the hero’s clothes?

The first “secret” revealed by the undressing of our hero is to what extent our hero is muscled.  Authors commonly give us above average height heroes, but the men are put together on a spectrum of muscle mass.  My favorite hero body type depends on the novel setting.  I love a Viking to be a man that resembles something just this side of a wall.  Thick, muscled biceps should catch the flickering firelight as he lifts the fur mantle from his chest and lays it on the ground for his woman.  While calves don’t get much ink, my mouth always waters at the graphic description of buckskin breeches straining across my Regency heroes thighs.

Modern day heroes I like to picture longer and leaner.  A designer suit hangs well on the smooth swimmers body.  Once he tosses his jacket aside and rolls up his pressed white shirt, I want to see lean, corded forearms…perhaps a foreshadowing of territory farther south?

And what about when the sheriff finally puts down his gun and unbuttons his staid brown shirt.  I catch my breath imaging the rippling abs of a man who spends his tormented nights beating up the police station’s punching bag.  The open shirt shows us just a hint of the golden hair trailing down to the waistband.

There is one more treasure hidden beneath the hero’s clothes that holds appeal for many readers.  That certain appendage is difficult to blog about while “stopping at the bedroom door”, so forgive my puns.  Personally there are certain “lengths” that writers go to that push me out of the fantasy, but who I am to say that isn’t exactly what the next reader wants.  Needless to say, I am certain that no matter the words the author uses, each reader applies their own idea of proportion perfection to visualize the vampire lord’s “burden” when eases his need in his lonely marble shower.

Isn’t that part of the appeal in escaping into a romance novel?  Every romance reader can create “her territory” underneath the hero’s clothes. If the author insists her Viking is the hulk without all the green, how can she stop you from picturing 6’1” of lean flesh who could be Ryan Gosling’s body double?

~Margo Lukas

Half Moon Rising

"…a story too thrilling to put down." MrsGiggles.com