Of steam engines and short-tempered shifters

It’s been a while since my last post but I have a good excuse – I’ve been deep in writing a new book, and also doing edits for Riding the Whirlwind, which comes out next month.

I know a lot of you are waiting for Karl’s story in the Strength of the Pack series, and I’m thrilled and grateful that you’re enjoying the series so much! I will write it – I shudder to think what he’d do to me if I didn’t – but after finishing Riding the Whirlwind, I needed a temporary break from the shifters of Elk Ridge.

I’m very placid by nature, despite my red hair, and I hate confrontation. Christian, on the other hand, is a tightly wound ball of anger with a hair-trigger temper and offence is his defence. I found writing him to be quite exhausting. Added to which, the atmosphere is a little different from the other books in the series, and when I reached the end of it, I felt the need for a complete change before I start writing Karl’s story. That way I can ensure I do him, and the series, justice with the last book.

So in the last few weeks, I have learned more than I ever wanted to know about steam locomotives and their maintenance requirements in my research for a book that has a very different tone from the Elk Ridge pack. It features an engine driver, a trainspotter, and a spider called Mabel. Have I mentioned I’m arachnophobic?  These characters are determined to kill me.