Shannon: I grew up in the Mid-Columbia, in the gorgeous Pacific Northwest, which I persist in thinking is the most beautiful place in the world no matter how far I travel. I go back there as often as I can because it�s food for the soul to look at that massive river and those incredible mountains. I miss it. I went to college on the east coast and then ended up in NYC for seven years before I came to Italy.

RBL: Do you have a "significant other" or children?

Shannon: You bet - I have a marvelous husband named Nicola, who lured me to his home in Southern Italy. The photo above is of us dancing to a swing band at a Lincoln Center Outdoors Concert last summer. (Romantic sigh.) He�s the best. No kids yet.

RBL: What do you like to do when you're not writing?

Shannon: I�m also a singer. I sang with the Waverly Consort, an early music ensemble based in NYC, for many years, and I sang renaissance and medieval and sephardic music with a bunch of different groups over the years. I was convinced I wanted to be a full-time musician until I discovered romance writing. Most writers and musicians who are struggling to make ends meet pick something practical as their back-up job. Not me. I like to live dangerously, I guess. I do miss singing, I must say, but the day�s too short to do everything. I tried to do both at once, and I crashed and burned. My first novella was written while on tour on buses and trains throughout Europe. Gah. I don�t recommend that.

As for other things I love doing, well ... I adore reading, obviously. I love movies, although I have to watch them all dubbed into Italian (sad face). Here in Italy, food is a really big deal, and I LOVE that. I�m a haphazard but very enthusiastic cook. I love to do yoga. I love (!) running. I love hiking, but don't get to do it much.

RBL: Please tell us about living in Italy. How did you come to live there? Whereabouts are you located, and do you plan to make it your permanent home? Do you travel back to the US often?

Shannon: That�s a romantic tale that�s too long and winding to go into a whole lot of detail, but basically, I�m here in Italy for love. Some years ago I was working as a strolling madrigal and folk singer at the New York Renaissance Faire, dressed up in one of those lace-up-the-front gowns that do great things for cleavage, and I met this group of Italian folk musicians who were strolling and playing there too ... Nico didn�t speak a word of English, but his legs were just so cute in those tights, I lost my head. I thought about him for about nine months after he went back to Italy, and finally decided I had to go cross the Atlantic to see if his legs really were as cute as I remembered, or if I had just put a romantic haze around them. I quit my job, left my apartment, put my stuff in storage, spent all my money on a ticket, and went. And damned if he wasn�t just as adorable as I remembered. That sparked off an incredibly expensive long distance love affair in which Mastercard had reason to love me for all the plane tickets I bought. I finally decided to come here to live, since I was up for a cross-cultural adventure, and I didn�t love the work I was doing in NYC - mostly just temping to keep me free for musical gigs. Temping gets old really fast. And, I thought hopefully, maybe in Italy I would even have time to write romance, like I�d always dreamed of! And so it all began ...

I live in Puglia, in Southern Italy, the heel of the boot. I�m a two minute walk from the Adriatic.

RBL: We're used to American writers writing about England, Scotland, and other countries, but it seems unusual to have an American writer who doesn't live in the US write about it! How does living in Italy affect your writing about America?

Shannon: Oh, homesickness makes America look great. I don�t think I could ever write about Italy, unless it was a chick-lit comedy type thing. Italy is wonderful and beautiful and sensual and hospitable, but still sort of alien, particularly Southern Italy. Maybe I just haven�t been here for long enough. I miss the silliest, most banal things. Like clothes dryers. They just don�t have them here. Ironing is such a drag. So is the pigeon poop on my clothes when I put the drying rack out on the balcony. Am I ruining my romantic expatriate mystique? Uh oh ...

RBL: Have any of your books been published in Italian?

Shannon: Nope, not yet! I�m just a newbie, remember.

RBL: As a Seattleite, Maggie was delighted that BEHIND CLOSED DOORS took place there. Why Seattle? Are you familiar with the area or did you travel there to research your story?

Shannon: Being a Pacific Northwester, I�m pretty familiar with Seattle, and it�s always struck me as an incredibly romantic city. All those beautiful colors of the city skyline, the silvers and greens, all that water, all those clouds, all those mountains, and Rainier looming over it all. And Pike Street Market, and that fabulous big bookstore down in Pioneer Square that I can�t remember the name of ... Wow. Even the cool gray pearly fog and the drizzling rain are romantic to me. All that green, green foliage. And the San Juans, oh. Words fail me. So that�s why I picked it. My sister lived there for many years, and I always loved my visits.

RBL: How did you get started writing? Have you always written romance? What made you choose erotic romance?

Shannon: I started by trying to write a Harlequin Temptation, but Harlequin turned me down. To my delight, those short category romances were all bought by Kensington for the Precious Gem line. And I didn�t choose erotic romance - it chose me! My Precious Gem editor was the one who suggested I try my hand at an erotic novella.

RBL: Your first published works were in anthologies with Lori Foster. It seems unusual for an author to be published in an anthology without first having a published book of her own. How did that come about?

Shannon: I think Kensington�s reasoning was that they would launch a brand new unknown and let her get some name recognition riding on the coattails of the more famous authors, like Lori. And it seemed to work! Lori has been such a friend to my career, promoting my stuff right and left.

RBL: How long did it take BEHIND CLOSED DOORS to get published? Did it take a while or did it get snatched up right away?

Shannon: Once again, my Precious Gem editor Hilary Sares, who is another angel in my life, told me that, after my first novella, the powers-that-be at Kensington would be interested in looking at any proposals I might make for an erotic single title romance. So I wrote about a third of BCD, and sent it in. They bought the proposal within just a few weeks, to my delight.

RBL: The increasing cost of books is changing the buying habits of many readers. For instance, many RBLs will not buy hard-cover books, no matter what. Trade size is also an issue because of the cost. How do you feel about your novels being published in trade size? Do you think it has helped or hindered your sales?

Shannon: I don�t buy hard-cover either; it�s just not in my budget. I always wait for the mass market version, even if it breaks my heart. I guess the real truth is, I�m still so bowled over by my good luck in being published at all, I�m not about to quibble with the format! Ask me again in five years, and maybe I�ll be more cynical and hard-bitten about it. Besides, it�s coming out in mass market in October anyway, so all the frugal people like me can buy it then!

RBL: Have you considered writing historical romance? Perhaps a medieval Italian historical?

Shannon: Yes, I did originally think I'd go the historical route, and I still may someday. For now, I've definitely been routed onto the contemporary track, and I'm enjoying it, so I'll ride it to the end of the line and then see what happens. I would love to do the research for historicals. As for Italy, well, why not? I don't think I've ever seen anybody write anything about Italy. I remember one book about sixteenth century Italy, in all the gazillion historicals I've read. So probably no editor would buy it. But I'll cross that bridge when I come to it!

RBL: Your book and stories are HOT HOT HOT. Give us some insight to what it's like writing those intense sex scenes? Do you find them difficult or do they just breeze into your mind and into your story? Did you consciously choose to write such erotic novels or did it "just happen?"

Shannon: They�re exhausting, I�ll tell you that much. I discovered that I had a taste for them when I was writing the first novella. My editor told me that all of the conflict in the plot had to be played out via the erotic relationship. Hmm, I thought. Conflict plus sex equals conflictual sex. Conflictual sex is problematic and makes a lot of people nervous. But then again, sex is a source of such intense emotion. I was intrigued at the thought of looking at it really closely, lingering with it, not being afraid of it, exploring every tiny detail of it, not just the light side but also the dark. The more I did it, the more I like it. But it does wring me out.

RBL: Your heroes ARE quite dark at times. Although all three stories end very happily, all of the heroes behave, at least once, in a way that could be considered dangerous. For instance, the male character in the story "Something Wild," in the anthology ALL THROUGH THE NIGHT, follows the heroine for days, behavior that could be viewed as stalking - especially after she tells him to leave her alone. This aspect of your heroes made some RBL readers a little nervous, while others thought it was perfectly fine - a little danger adds spice. What kind of reaction, adverse or otherwise, have you had from your readers about this? Did you consciously choose to make your heroes controversial or did they grow naturally out of the conflictual sex?

Shannon: This is an interesting and provocative question, one to which I have given quite a lot of thought. I think the most important thing, when I�m dreaming up a hero, is that he be true to his feelings. As we all know, real feelings are not always nice and neat and proper and socially sanctioned, not even in the best-intentioned people. Even the kindest of us - the most noble and selfless, righteous, and deserving of love - all have our dicey, dodgy moments. And falling madly in love (to say nothing of being in mortal danger!) pushes people to the very edges of acceptable behavior and sometimes beyond it. Myself, I hate characters who are defanged and declawed and whitewashed so as not to offend. They don�t turn me on. Honesty turns me on, and courage, and the willingness to take a chance.

You mentioned Jacob in the story "Something Wild," and his stalker behavior. It�s quite true ... probably following Annie wasn�t the "right" thing for him to do, but I couldn�t have the poor guy look up from his burger, see the woman of his dreams, and say to himself, "Gee, I�d sure love to meet that woman, but it just wouldn�t be gentlemanly for me to follow her, since a woman alone might feel nervous." Hmmm. People who reason like that do not take the world by storm. And besides, the first time Jacob actually manages to talk to her, he asks Annie if she wants to keep playing their game of pursuit, and tells her that if she doesn�t, to just say the word, and he would disappear. That�s not stalker behavior. Later on, after they become lovers, it�s true that he keeps following her even when she tells him to get lost, but what could I do? He was in love. His protective instincts were aroused (and all his other instincts, too!). He followed his heart and did what he had to do! At that point, it was up to Annie to decide whether or not she could deal with his intensity.

Same thing with Seth in BEHIND CLOSED DOORS. He�s just bad to the bone. I could drive myself nuts trying to justify his behavior, so I won�t even try. The question was, "Can a grief-stricken, alienated, uncivilized, oversexed, profoundly damaged person save the day and find true love?" Maybe only in a romance novel, God bless �em. Thank goodness he�s Raine�s problem now, not mine.

In answer to your other question about readers' response to my dark heroes, I got lots of positive feedback, and heard about some negative, but didn�t go looking for it. I try not to follow reviews and commentary on my stories. If I get caught up in how people judge my stuff, whether positively or negatively, it�s dangerous. It gets me too outwardly focused, anxious and fretting over what people might think of me. Kiss of death. Run away. So I�m not even sure to what extent my untamed heroes offended readers. As to whether I consciously chose to make them controversial? Good heavens, no. I don�t consciously choose anything. I just follow my feelings until the story feels right to me. Then I squeeze my eyes tight shut, drop the manuscript in the mailbox, and hope for the best. Gosh. I guess that means the buck stops here. Scary thought!

RBL: We think some readers might be getting a bit bored with straight romance as it is written now because some publishers are requiring authors to be "soft" and not so hot in order to appeal more to the mainstream. As one reader at RBL Romantica recently put it, "I'm very tired of 'Ho-hum, I guess you'll do' romances. Give me intensity any day." Do you think the sub-genre of "erotic romance" may be an evolution of authors' and readers' desire to bring back a "taste" of the old �70�s romances, where the hero was so aggressive that sometimes he actually raped the heroine, combined with a "new" political correctness? Do books labeled "erotic romance" give more leeway for a darker, more aggressive male hero?

Shannon: I do think it would be tough to write a truly red-hot erotic romance hero without some dangerous ambivalence in the mix. But rape is unthinkable in a romance novel, a betrayal of the heroine and the reader alike. I try to make it clear, even in the most emotionally perilous, on-the-edge-of-the-abyss love scenes, that if the heroine were to say stop, the sex would stop. I hope that comes across. If the problematic sex goes on, it�s because the heroine agreed to it for her own reasons. Maybe it's not very smart on her part to do so, but hey - we all make mistakes. Life is complicated.

RBL: Please tell us about upcoming publications!

Shannon: STANDING IN THE SHADOWS is out now - it's Connor McCloud and Erin Riggs�s story. Then in April of 2004, my erotic novella "Meltdown," will be featured in the Brava anthology BAD BOYS NEXT EXIT, along with stories by Donna Kauffman and Edna Sheedy. In June I have another single title, RETURN TO ME. As for the other things I have planned, I�ll write them first and then I�ll talk about them! I have to dream up something really special for the other two McCloud brothers, Davy and Sean! They feature largely in SHADOWS, and I�ve gotten incredibly fond of them. They deserve to find true love, too

I�m also putting together a Website, so come to visit me in a couple of weeks! And thank you all very much for your interest!