Q&A with author Cindy Gerard

I recently had the opportunity to interview author Cindy Gerard for The Big Thrill, a monthly zine published by International Thriller Writers. Below is an excerpt of my Q&A.

Cindy Gerard is a multiple New York Times and USA Today best-selling author of action/adventure romantic suspense novels. Along with numerous industry award nominations, Cindy is the recipient of The National Reader's Choice Award and Romance Writers of America's coveted Rita Award. Cindy lives in the Midwest with her husband, Tom, a very spoiled dog, two equally spoiled cats and several fat and happy quarter horses.

Cindy was happy to talk about Feel The Heat, her latest book in an ongoing series.

Tell us about Feel The Heat.
FTH is an espionage thriller that runs full throttle from the moment a national security threat is detected at NSA and launches the Black Ops Inc team into a race against the clock to avert a catastrophic disaster. The story takes us from D.C. to Medellin, Colombia and back to D.C. as our BOI hero, Raphael Mendoza, and our heroine, DIA officer B.J. Chase, lay it all on the line for the greater good. The action is fast paced, the romance is hot and the settings exotic as Rafe and B.J. must infiltrate the inner sanctum of a Colombian drug cartel believed to be financing the attack on the US power infrastructure. Did I mention lots of action? :o)

What was your inspiration behind The Men of Black Ops, Inc?
I have such admiration and gratitude for our military warriors and their families for all they sacrifice and put on the line for us every day. I wanted to write something to honor those heroics and explore the bonds these men and women make during their service as well as write compelling, action packed reads. But I was also curious about what happened to our Special Operations warrior when they parted ways with the military. My research revealed that many of them chose law enforcement post military and many more continue to use their special skills as private contractors and fight the war on terror as civilians. Black Ops. Inc. was born from that. The BOIs are not mercenaries. They don’t hire out to the highest bidder. Instead, they fight on for everything that originally called them to service.

What was the most challenging aspect of writing this novel, the fourth in the series?
It’s always a challenge to come up with a new, fresh and gripping story line as well as integrate a compelling romantic relationship between the main protagonists. FEEL THE HEAT has such a complex and action orientated story line that it proved difficult to interject the emotional conflict readers expect in my books. Having said that, however, I’m very pleased with the end result. Both B.J. Chase and Rafe Mendoza were amazing characters to write – I found them to be one of my most intriguing couples yet.

What are your future plans for the series?
I just finished book 5 in the series, RISK NO SECRETS featuring Wyatt – Papa Bear – Savage, yet another action packed, edge of your seat thriller set in Sal Salvador, El Salvador. SECRETS will be released in June 2010. After that – who knows what BOI will show up in the next adventure?

How do you keep writing fresh, fun, and interesting for your own needs?
I try to always learn something new when I tack a fresh project. Whether it’s better acquainting myself with a new and exotic locale as a back drop for a story or simply creating characters and story lines that interest me. I figure, if the story can’t hold my attention, it’s sure not going to hold a reader’s attention. And I love to explore certain personality types, figure out what makes them tick, what makes them dysfunctional and then set about fixing them :o)

You have an incredible trailer on your website, www.cindygerard.com. How did you make it happen?
I knew I wanted something short, powerful and impactful for the video to showcase SHOW NO MERCY, the kick off book for the Black Ops Inc series. So I toyed with the basic bullet points, then pared them down to a very few, laid them out in the rhythm I wanted and with the help of my webperson, fine-tuned it into what you see now. And I’m glad you like it! It turned out to be everything I had hoped for.

Tell us about your contributions to the blog, Riding With The Top Down.
I’m so honored to have been invited to ‘ride in the convertible’ with the rest of the talented authors on the Topdown blog. We try to keep things interesting over there and mix it up by tackling any and all subjects (except politics and religion :o). I’ve written about everything from ‘hair’ issues to weight to movie and tv show reviews to motivation to feng shui. We laugh a lot but we’re also serious at times and offer thought provoking pieces. Mostly, though, we just have fun – and since there are 10 contributors and we’re pretty prolific, we give away a LOT of books!

What are you working on now?
I’m just off deadline and getting ready to talk new contract with my publisher so I’m working on my house. :o) As in cleaning. Things get a bit dicey around here during the last month of a deadline. I don’t often see daylight or the world outside of my office during that last long haul. Now it’s time to play catch-up on all those little things that turned into a great, long ‘to do’ list. As for my next writing project … all I can say is, there are great things in the wind and I’m really excited to dive back in to the deep water…

Thanks, Cindy!

Be sure to visit Cindy’s website for the latest news, info, and release updates. And be sure to read more of The Big Thrill for additional author interviews and news.

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On Friday, I’ll be sharing details regarding some newly scheduled upcoming events. I also plan on sharing some thoughts on craft and writing development.

As always, thanks for reading!