Malia: PRIDE AND PRUDENCE is a February release from Avon. I'm excited about it since it's a Regency, my favorite time period. Plus, I had the idea while on vacation with my husband in Rye and Brighton a couple years ago, so it brings back lovely memories. Anyway, PRIDE AND PRUDENCE pits the notoriously gorgeous Captain James Ashley against Lady Prudence Farnsworth. The people in Gravesly, where Lady Farnsworth lives, support themselves by smuggling, and Captain Ashley is after the ringleader, the Wolf. The Wolf hindered Ashley's triumphant return to London from the war by blowing his ship out of the water, and the Captain is rather miffed.

Joey: Okay, now let's talk about men! You write some of the most unusual heroes. For example, Trevor from THE DUKE'S RETURN has quite the issues. He's almost a "wounded hero." Do you get inspiration from somewhere? How do you dream up these men?

Malia: Aha, men! Always an interesting topic. I find inspiration for my heroEs in reality - I mean, all men are wounded in that they're all brain damaged, right? No, really, I do like to give my men interesting problems. Trevor, in THE DUKE'S RETURN, was actually inspired by my brother. He's gorgeous and very sweet, and he has dyslexia - I've watched him struggle through school. But he's also quite a genius when it comes to design. For Trevor, I decided I wanted him to be a wonderful cook - that was complete and total fantasy. A beautiful man who cooks. What could be better? Truly, I do like molding my heroes from fantasy - it's much more fun that way. As one of my characters in the book I'm writing at the moment says to the heroine: Do not look for the perfect man, such a beast does not exist. But, the perfect man for *you* does.

Joey: You've mentioned to me that writing some books has been almost torture while others have just flown onto the page. Can you tell us a little about what tortured you about writing certain things?

Malia: MUCH ADO ABOUT LOVE was pure joy to write. My characters wouldn't leave me alone, talked constantly even while I was trying desperately to sleep - odious creatures. Usually, though, my torture comes from my own little demon that likes to sit on my shoulder and tell me that everything happening on the page is crap. He came to keep me company while I was writing THE DUKE'S RETURN. I'm pretty sure it was because it was the first book I wrote under contract. That tortuous creature isn't allowed on my shoulder anymore - when he comes to visit, I stand up, go look in the mirror and tell myself how wonderful I am. He's a stubborn bugger, but when he leaves, writing is just pure fun.

Joey: Your voice is very humorous. Was this something you worked towards? Or was it something that just came with your writing?

Malia: My humor is in my bones. I get it from my parents. Whenever something horrible happened, we usually sat around and cried until we laughed hysterically. I think if you take anything too seriously, it'll probably kill you. So, I try to find humor where I can. Plus, most things are pretty dang funny. Still, I do like to give my characters a bit of the bitter with the sweet. That way the sweet is even better.

Joey: How did you start writing? How long did you write before getting published? And of course, why did you choose romance?

Malia: I've always loved to write, and I always knew I wanted to write a novel. I just wasn't sure what kind of novel until I read my first romance. That was about eleven years ago when I was pregnant with my first child. I was an English major in college, and I read constantly, but I had never read a romance. And then a friend gave me one when I was stuck in bed, eight months pregnant, and I fell in love with the genre. They were books about women! And the women were strong and fun. And I knew that I had found what I wanted to write. I wrote my first book while my daughter sat in her baby swing next to my desk. I sold the third book I ever wrote when that same child went to kindergarten and I was eight months pregnant with my third.

Joey: Now, I know you probably spend ALL of your time writing and do nothing else! *grin* But let's just pretend for a minute that you get to have a life. What do you like to do? Can you tell us about yourself, your family, your interests?

Malia: What I *like* to do and what I *get* to do are not exactly the same at the moment. I love to travel, read, ski, and play tennis. Mostly I *get* to drive my kids to every lesson available to children on this planet and clean toilets. Big gap there which I'd like to bridge :) We do manage to go on ski vacations each year. All three kids have now been on skiis, and are awfully good. My oldest has decided to take up snowboarding. And during the summer we spend a lot of time at the beach. I grew up in Hawaii, so I love swimming in the ocean, and so far all three of my kids are following in my footsteps. They would be very happy living in a tent on the beach and never having to wear shoes at all. We also like to go to movies and read books. My husband and I do try to get away each year on a vacation with just the two of us. We've gone to Tahiti and Isla Meujeres in Mexico, as well as England and Ireland. I think it's definitely time to go back to Tahiti - that was really wonderful. Fortunately, I have a mother who actually wants to watch my kids for me. And she lives about fifteen minutes away. Heaven.

Joey: Finally, any advice you'd like to share for unpublished or would-be writers at RBL?

Malia: Hmmm, I'm horrible at giving advice since I tend to do everything wrong :) But I would have to say that the best advice I got when I started writing was, first of all, to write what you like to read, don't write what you think is going to be easier to sell or for a line that you don't know anything about. And, if you want to publish romance, take advantage of RWA. I wrote two books before I found RWA, and I sure wish I had found them first. I learned more reading one Romance Writer's Report than I did in two years of floundering around by myself.