Out of the Flames began as a fan fiction story set in the world of Showtime’s The L Word. I’m a devoted TiBetter, who would rather forget the sixth season ever happened—other than Bette & Tina’s happy ending. Flames was the fourth novel-length piece I posted on LesFan.com, home of the world’s most extensive collection of B&T tales. I approached each fanfiction story by reinventing my favorite couple. I threw them in a new location and gave them careers, friends, and drama, much different from the original series. In other words, they were my own stories and characters with a built-in fan fiction readership.

At the heart of Flames is Manhattan Sloane, a kickass San Francisco police detective. Is she anything like me? Other than her East Bay Area roots, criminal justice degree, and several years as a cop and investigator (mine in the military), I’d have to say no. My friends tell me otherwise. They point out that, like me, Sloane faces tragedy but comes out the other side stronger and more determined. I say that’s every woman I know. In essence, Sloane is every fierce, loyal, yet flawed woman in my life.

Sloane’s greatest fear is fire and the destruction it brings. It’s also one of mine. When I was growing up, wildfires threatened our family home twice, once trapping our town in a fiery ring. We escaped both times without a scratch, but that heightened sense of fear never left me. Don’t even think about giving me a candle for Christmas.

Why San Francisco? I grew up in the East Bay Area at a time when San Francisco was depicted in television and movies as the fantastical center of counterculture and social reform. And all of that was right in my backyard. The City became this mythical place like Dorothy’s Oz—shiny, magical, and unreachable. Now, with all the awareness that comes with adulthood, San Francisco is beautiful and dirty, cultured and uncivilized, and a home I don’t recognize. In Manhattan Sloane’s world, I created a version of San Francisco that transported me back to childhood, yet had a footing in reality."

From the Ashes, like its predecessor Out of the Flames, began as a fanfiction story set in the world of Showtime’s The L Word with Bette and Tina, now Sloane and Finn, at the helm. About halfway through drafting Flames, when I’d hit Manhattan Sloane with her first devastating blow, I knew right then I wasn’t done challenging her. That’s when I started outlining Ashes. In fact, the same day I typed “The End” in Flames, I began cranking out the first chapter of Ashes. That’s how connected I was to the story that reflected much of the challenges I faced in my personal life at the time—four strokes over two years. I decided to throw one obstacle after another at Sloane and see how she made it through the other side, hoping I’d do the same.

I started with this scenario: Imagine you’ve been through the worst imaginable hell. You claw your way back and now hold hope you’ll finally be okay. But you have a chance to put away more of the bad guys who put you through the wringer.

You’d take that chance, wouldn’t you? If you said yes, you’re a lot like Manhattan Sloane…and me. But ask yourself why. Is it because it’s the right thing? Or because it’s your chance to even the score? Before Sloane can answer that question for herself, I hit her with a second disastrous setback and pose her with a more consequential question: How far would you go to save someone you love?

If you want Sloane’s answer, you’ll have to read From the Ashes, the second installment of the Manhattan Sloane thriller series. 

Beyond the Smoke, the third installment of the Manhattan Sloane series, picks up six months after the end of its predecessor. Similar to how I linked Out of the Flames to From the Ashes, I grab onto the one loose end from the previous book and make that the driving force of this one.

I started with this premise: Is it possible to make a fresh start without first making peace with the past?

If you’ve lived long enough like I have, you’ve reached the point once or twice when the surrounding chaos is too much, and the only way forward is to hit the reset button. I had the advantage of serving in the Air Force, and whether or not I liked it, I picked up everything and moved every three years to a new place and a new job. I found the new job refreshing with each move, but I missed having roots—close friends and an extended family that I could count on.

I wanted to give Manhattan Sloane both, but not without stumbling blocks. After throwing everything at her in the first two books, she’s ready for that fresh start with Finn, Reagan, and a new career as a private investigator. I make the past—hers and Finn’s—her greatest obstacle. Sloane is my hero, so I give her the tools I never had that make it possible to clean the slate. The question is, does she use them to find her happily ever after?

To find out if Manhattan Sloane gets her fresh start, you’ll have to read Beyond the Smoke.

Golf and alcohol typically end in one thing for me—a poor score. However, on a fun-filled Thursday in 2019, something incredible resulted. The mixture had my friends and me discussing my story for the GCLS Writing Academy and a Sierra Foothills speakeasy. By the turn, I thought what if I combined the two topics? What if The L Word and Boardwalk Empire had a baby? By the end of the round, I had the makings of a book.

 Two years later, I dove in. I was stumped for a setting until I remembered the West Coast main highway for illegal liquor coming from Canadian ships during Prohibition was an hour from my California childhood home. A road trip was essential. That day in Half Moon Bay, walking up Devil’s Slide and visiting the marina shops and eateries, spawned more stories and gave birth to the Speakeasy Series.

 I hope you enjoy the first leg of Rose and Dax’s journey and fall in love with the cast of characters, as I have.

The concept for the Speakeasy series started with the question: What if a group of lesbians operated the poshest speakeasy on the West Coast during Prohibition? That era was a man’s world, wrought by greed and violence, so I had to create female characters willing and able to go toe to toe with the greediest and most vicious of the lot. That responsibility fell to Dax Xander and Grace Parsons—the two characters who would do anything to protect the woman they loved. And in this story, they face the danger without hesitation.

 While researching the series, I found an article about the Queens of the Speakeasies. While many women penetrated that dark world, where illegal liquor flowed like water by working as servers and entertainers, few had the fortitude to run the establishments and do whatever it took to stay in business.

 Thee women stood out in New York City, where speakeasies were the Starbucks of their time with over 3,200 in the city at its peak. Texas Guinan, Helen Morgan, and Belle Livingstone ran stylish nightclub-type speakeasies for the affluent, the model I used for the Beacon Club in the book. So, in honor of these three trailblazers, I dedicate Whiskey War.

I hope you enjoy reading about the group of sapphic women I’ve created, their rise to power, and the hurdles Dax and Rose face to keep their love alive.

Last Barrel picks up Dax and Rose’s journey, navigating the illegal speakeasy business and the fractured relationship between Dax and her best friend, Charlie, three years after Whiskey War. This bittersweet book dives deeper into the supporting cast, testing each one’s quiet inner strength.

 Grace Parsons fans will love this story. I remember falling madly in love with Grace while writing the first book in the series, Devil’s Slide, and I knew then that she deserved a deeper storyline. In this book, Grace faces her greatest challenge and comes out the other side stronger. Others around her will learn what they’re made of by the time they crack open the last barrel of illegal whiskey.

 It’s been a pleasure bringing the Speakeasy world to you. On behalf of Dax, Rose, May, Hank, Grace, Clive, Charlie, Jules, and Brutus, I thank you for reading and witnessing their journey. This book…this series…is a testament to an undeniable set of facts: women are resilient and can accomplish anything when they band together.

Despite Chaos, the first installment of the Falling Castles Series, is a re-envisioning of the first novel-length story I ever wrote. That original fanfiction story, dating back to 2016, titled Delayed Connection, was set loosely in the world of Showtime’s The L Word. Readers at LesFan.com received it well, inspiring me to continue writing. Two novel-length stories later, I’d written my first series.

 Fast forward to 2019, a month after I signed my first contract with Bella Books, I sat down with the publisher, Linda Hill, over drinks at the Golden Crown Literary Society (GCLS) Conference in Pittsburgh. I was nervous as hell and felt intimidated by the talent I’d met in the preceding days, but once I’d cornered Linda for a private discussion, I took full advantage and pitched not just my next book but my next five. I went full-on bold and told her that I had two series in mind, intending to produce six books in three years—three from each series. Despite Chaos represents my fourth book in two years and kicks off that long-awaited second series.

 After cracking open the original manuscript, I cringed at my pre-academy writing style. I barely got through the first chapter before realizing that too many subplots complicated the story. Drawing on my academy teachings, I stripped out an entire subplot, which had a dramatic, cascading effect for the better. While I’d removed a layer of my main character, the choices I had her making were now more logical. Much of the original story remained intact, and I even left in a reference to the original title’s inspiration—a cocktail I once enjoyed at a hotel bar near an airport called Delayed Connection.

Blind Suspicion, the second installment of the Falling Castles Series, nearly didn’t happen. If not for my friend Barbara Gould, my plotting partner in crime, who had planted her flag and declared herself firmly in the camp of Team Ethan, this world of characters would’ve ended at book one.

In the original draft of this book’s predecessor, Despite Chaos, I had Ethan Falling being killed. Barb convinced me that Ethan was too central to the world I’d created to knock him off in the first round. I’m glad she did because once I changed the plotline in book one—Ethan now surviving the attack—a storyline for book two popped into my head.

Like Chaos, this book started as an alternative universe fanfiction story based loosely on Showtime’s The L Word. Readers of my original fanfiction work will be happy to learn most of that version remains intact. Blind Suspicion picks up at the end of Despite Chaos and continues the drama plaguing Alex and Tyler. I introduce two new characters—Jesse Simmons, Abby Spencer’s lawyer who defends Alex, and Destiny Scott, a bright, ambitious exotic dancer who is full of surprises.

The first two Falling Castle books left many of my characters with deeply held secrets, some for sinister reasons and some for the sake of love. So, the third installment, Amid Secrets, was inevitable. Those skeletons, ranging from uncomfortable to life-shattering, had to come out. The tricky part was intertwining them and then revealing each one in a logical order.

Like Despite Chaos and Blind Suspicion, this book started as an alternative universe fanfiction story based loosely on Showtime’s The L Word. Bette and Tina became Alex and Tyler. Kit became Syd. Peggy and Helena Peabody became Abby and Harley Spencer. And in this story, Lara Perkins becomes Lara Prescott. Abby and Lara are the only characters that resemble their inspiration from the original television series. The others took on different jobs, personalities, and family circumstances.

When I finished drafting this story in its original fanfiction form in 2017, I cried and cried and cried. This was the third book in my first series, and I had no intention of writing anything more. I’d lived in the world I’d created for a year, and it was like saying a final goodbye to old friends. Then, in 2020, when I cracked open those original stories to revise them, I got to reminisce for an entire year. The new world I’ve created for my old friends is so much better and more emotional than I’d originally envisioned. And when I typed the last words in Amid Secrets, I didn’t cry this time. I decided right then not to let go of this world. I plan to revisit it again.