Please Welcome p.m. terrell author of Vicki's Key

The angels are pleased to have p.m. terrell at our blog today.

p.m. will be giving away gift baskets from the real town of Lumberton, where Vicki's adventure takes place--one for a randomly drawn commenter and one for the host with the most comments, excluding the host's own or p.m.'s. (US/Canada only)

VICKI'S KEY

By

p.m. terrell

BLURB:  

Following a flawed CIA mission, Vicki Boyd leaves the Agency to begin a new life in a new town assisting an elderly woman. But when she arrives, she finds Laurel Maguire has suffered a stroke and her nephew has arrived from Ireland to care for her. Vicki quickly falls in love with the charming Dylan Maguire, but all is not what it seems to be at Aunt Laurel's house. And when the VIA arrive to recruit Vicki for one more mission, she finds her CIA past and her new future are about to collide... in murder.

INTERVIEW:

1.    What or who inspired you to start writing?

I actually began writing in the 4^th grade when my father was transferred to the Mississippi Delta. He was an FBI Agent and was there to infiltrate the Ku Klux Klan. So many of the people there were involved in crushing the Civil Rights movement that all of the children of FBI Agents were discouraged from befriending anyone, lest their parents end up being one of the FBI’s targets. The school principal saw what a lonely existence I was having to live and encouraged me to write. It opened whole new worlds to me, and I’ve not stopped writing since.

2.    What elements are necessary components for this genre.

Vicki’s Key is my 13^th published book but it’s the first to straddle three genres: paranormal, suspense and romance. Vicki Boyd is a psychic spy with the CIA, which involved a lot of research into the real psychic spy programs conducted by the U.S. Government. For the suspense, I conducted research into Afghanistan (for Vicki’s remote viewing missions) and for her local suspense, I used many stories of true ghost sightings here in Lumberton, North Carolina, the real setting for Vicki’s home. The romance was actually more difficult for me to write because I’d had limited romantic scenes in my earlier works. But my fans clamored for more romance, so I aim to please.

3.    How did you come up with your idea for your novel?

My fans had been begging me for years to write a series. But I did not want to become a formula writer who became all too predictable. When I came across information about the real psychic spy programs, I knew it was exactly what I’d been looking for. It gives me the flexibility of having the main character travel anywhere in the world for the international intrigue and espionage, but it also allows me to form a very personal background for her, including lots of local mysteries.

4.    What expertise did you bring to your writing?

I had always wanted to be a writer but I fell into the computer industry in the 1970’s. I opened two computer companies in the Washington, DC area and my specialty became computer intelligence and white collar computer crimes. My clients included the CIA, Secret Service, and Department of Defense. Most of my books contain elements of computer crimes, and one of the main characters in this new series is a computer hacker.

5.    What would you want your readers to know about you that might not be in your bio?

The front for CIA operative Vicki Boyd is that of a freshwater angelfish breeder. I have five aquariums and about every two weeks one of my angelfish pairs lays around 300 eggs. So the information in the series about the angelfish is based on fact.

I am also a huge advocate of pet rescue. Simone, a tri-colored collie in Vicki’s Key, is one of my rescue dogs. She was almost dead when she came to me as a foster; she was severely malnourished and horribly abused. Once I nursed her to health, I couldn’t bear to part with her so I adopted her myself. She’s the best dog I ever had.

6.    As far as your writing goes, what are your future plans?

I am continuing to work on the Black Swamp Mysteries series; Vicki’s Key was released recently and the next book in the series, Secrets of a Dangerous Woman, will be released this fall. Dylan’s Song will be released next spring.

I am also writing stand-alone novels for a different publisher and hopefully one of those will be released within the next 12 months as well. My goal had been to write two books a year but this year I found myself having to write three books.

7. If you could be one of the characters from this book, who would it be and why?
   
   I would definitely be Vicki. The reason: she falls in love with a charming Irishman named Dylan Maguire and more importantly perhaps is he falls in love with her. There’s just something about Celtic men…
   
   Here’s a scene out of the book:
   
   “It’s like,” she said, “I’ve had this lid on me, all tightly closed. And you’ve managed to pop it off, leaving my heart and my emotions wide open.” She brushed against his lips again. They were soft and full and as she leaned in, he parted his mouth and pressed against her. “And now,” she whispered, “I don’t know if I can put the lid back on.”
   
   

His hands moved from her arms to the back of her neck. And then he was squeezing her in a solid grip that left her breathless. She ran her hand down his muscled forearm until reaching his hand and then watched his face as she slipped his hand under her blouse.

“My God, Woman,” he said.

“Still think I need some heft?” she asked slyly.

“Ooh, no,” he laughed. “No. I take it back, what I said. I like you nimble.”

“Take me again,” she said.

He stopped and half-smiled. “Are you beggin’ me now?” he teased.

“Would it help if I did?”

In one fluid movement, he rolled her off him. She landed on her back on the soft fabric as he moved atop her. He slid his hand under her head, grasping her hair as he kissed her. He moved with a passion she could never have imagined, as if all the restraint he’d exhibited during the past few weeks was snatched away in an instant. His lips found every inch of her face and neck, his fingers intertwined in her hair, alternately grasping it firmly and then releasing it.

His hand moved from her hair to her waist. He slid his hand inside her blouse, running it up her back and arching it toward him. His hand was rough and somehow that excited her even more; they were the hands of a strong man, a man who could protect her, a man who made her feel like a woman.

8.    Can you give us a sneak peek into this book?

Vicki’s Key begins when a CIA mission goes horribly wrong and Vicki decides to leave the Agency and start a new life in a different town. She accepts a summer job helping an elderly lady with her fish business while she decides what she wants to do with the rest of her life.

But when she arrives, she finds Laurel Maguire has suffered a stroke and is confined to her third floor bedroom. And her nephew Dylan has arrived from Ireland to care for her. Vicki quickly falls in love with the charming Dylan Maguire. But soon the CIA arrives to pull Vicki back in for a final mission—and her past as a psychic spy and her future are about to collide—in murder.

In the scene below, Dylan has just killed a man who was attempting to kill Vicki. They’ve wrapped his body in a rug and are trying to carry it down two flights of steps in a house that has becoming increasingly haunted by an unknown spirit.

Vicki stood with the rug against her shoulder, her legs trembling from the weight and her increasingly fragile nerves. Dylan lifted the other end of the rug and began to back out of the room. She followed, her end noticeably lower than his.

When they reached the hall, he stood with his back to the stairs. “Now,” he said, “I’m goin’ down the stairs first. Okay?”

“Okay.”

He backed down. “Do you have no upper body strength at all, Woman?” he asked. “I’m totin’ this package down these stairs all by meself here.”

“I’m trying.” She placed one foot tenuously in front of the next, inching her way to the top of the stairs. When both feet were firmly planted on the top step, she felt a frigid arm smack her from behind, ripping across the middle of her back. She cried out as the force pushed her down the stairs. She tried to grab onto the railing but it was just out of reach and she tumbled head first onto the stairs, sliding with such force that her head bounced off each step in turn.

Dylan stumbled backward but caught himself on the next step. He straddled the stairs until Vicki’s head bounced into his leg and stopped.

She stared up at him, breathless, as she laid upside down, half her body underneath the corpse.

“Did I neglect to inform you,” he said as he stared down at her, “that part of the goal was to remain at your end of things?”

“I fell.”

“I can see that.”

She continued to look at him as she lay upside down on the staircase.

“If it wouldn’t trouble you too much,” he said calmly, “when you’re done with your break, could you hold your arms out straight so your hands can help to walk the package down the stairs?”

“Okay.”

She pushed her hands against the heavy roll, helping to hold it a couple of feet above her as Dylan slowly descended the stairs. When the final piece of rug left her fingers, she grabbed onto the railing and pulled herself to a seated position. Her back was radiating with pain, and she glanced to the top of the steps. There was nothing there, and yet she knew there was something there.

She hurried down the remaining stairs to the foyer.

9.    Do you belong to a critique group? If so how does this help or hinder your writing?

I have a close group of fellow writers and editors who always read my latest manuscript before I finalize it and send it to the publisher. They are able to give me valuable advice on the pacing, plot, characters and scenes that help to make the book even better. I think it’s extremely valuable to have new sets of eyes looking at your book. And they need to be people who will tell it like it is—and not sugarcoat things in an attempt to tell you what they think you want to hear.

10. When did you first decide to submit your work? Please tell us what or who encouraged you to take this big step?

My first book was published in 1984 but it was a computer how-to book. It would take nearly 16 years for me to find someone interested in publishing one of my fiction books. I found myself in the very stressful situation of being an FBI informant on trucking kickback schemes involving computers and once I was finished with that, I was a bit burned out on the computer industry. I realized I had always wanted to be a writer and simply fell into the computer industry so I went back to what I always loved to do. The first suspense/thriller that was published was called Kickback and was actually based on the real trucking kickback scheme.

111. What is the best and worst advice you ever received? (regarding writing or publishing)

The best advice I ever received was to limit backstory to a few paragraphs at a time. It allows the reader to understand what motivates your characters without bringing the central plot to a screeching halt.

The worst advice I ever received was an author who advised me to put my manuscript in the closet and forget about it after three publishers had rejected it. If I had done that, I would not be published today.

12. Do you outline your books or just start writing?

In the beginning, I outlined. But as I continued writing full-time, I improved my writing to the point where I know where the story will begin, what will happen in the middle of the book to start the reader on a suspenseful roller coaster ride, and how the book will end. I also spend a good deal of time getting to know my characters. Everything else falls into place now.

13. How do you maintain your creativity?

My problem is I have too many ideas and not enough time. I have my next five books planned and each one is very different in terms of the plot and crimes involved. I study a lot of recently declassified information and watch the intelligence community and when they say truth is stranger than fiction, it is! I often will take two or three things currently happening in our world and weave them together into a central plot.

14. Who is your favorite character in the book. Can you tell us why?

It’s definitely the Irishman, Dylan Maguire. Both my parents’ families emigrated from Ireland and adding this character to this series put me in touch with my own background. His speech is totally different from a typical American’s speech pattern, also, and I found he could get away with saying things in that lilting Irish brogue that I couldn’t do with an American man. He is also extremely multi-faceted; he can be romantic and gentle but he can also be a cold-blooded killer when circumstances warrant. He’s an opportunist and is skilled at reinventing himself.

In the following scene, he tells Vicki a little bit about his past:

Vicki traced his hipbone with her fingers. “You are so muscular,” she murmured. She glanced up to see Dylan watching her. “How did you get in this shape?”

“Hard labor.”

“Seriously.”

“I am serious.” He took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. “You Americans, you captivate me. You’re always so optimistic, you are. So resilient. A man can be born into total poverty here of unwed parents, even drug addicts or felons. And that man can rise to whatever heights he wishes to attain.”

She waited for him to continue. He was silent for so long that she’d just opened her mouth to speak when he said, “I was always dirt poor. In Ireland, your fate is sealed by who your parents were, what their status was.”

She rested her hand on his hip and waited for him to continue. When he did, his voice had an irritated edge to it. “Me mum was just a girl when she became pregnant with me. Out of wedlock, it was. Me father married her to do the decent thing. He tried takin’ a job at a factory. Blue collar. Mostly uneducated. Within a couple of years he’d come to the conclusion that he didn’t want to be saddled with the responsibility of a wife and a child.”

“What happened?” she asked softly.

“He left.”

“How old were you?”

“Not quite three. I remember him sometimes—just bits and pieces. Mostly, I remember me mum.”

“What was she like?”

He leaned closer to her and ran his finger along her lips. “It doesn’t matter. That’s all in the past now.”

“I want to know,” she said. “It’s part of you, part of who you are.”

He looked at her for a long time before answering. “Me mum used to cry every night. She worked when she could. But as soon as she got paid, she’d be in her cups.” As Vicki raised her brow quizzically, he explained, “I suppose she was an alcoholic.”

His eyes moved to her jaw as he traced her jawbone. When he looked back at her eyes, his were naked and vulnerable. “She was so beautiful once. And so very young.”

“Did you live with her parents? Other family?”

He shook his head. “We might’ve been better off if we had. We spent most years livin’ on welfare cheques. The dole, it’s called. And she drank most of ‘em. If ever I wanted her bad enough to go lookin’, I knew I’d find her in a pub.”

He traced her knuckle and ran his fingers over her nails. “I used to lie in bed at night, listenin’ to her cryin’. Wishin’ more than anythin’ that I could wake up the next mornin’ and be someone else.”

“Who did you want to be?”

“Anybody but meself.”

15. Are your plotting bunnies angels or demons?

A little of both, which always makes things quite interesting!

16. Anything else you might want to add?

The seed for Black Swamp Mysteries began with Exit 22, which was published a couple of years ago. Everyone wanted the main characters, Brenda Carnegie and Chris Sandige, to return. Vicki’s Key introduces Brenda’s sister, Vicki, and Dylan Maguire. As the series progresses, there are six characters whose lives are intertwined through blood or circumstances. Depending on the plot, one character may come to the forefront while others have secondary roles, which should keep the series fresh and interesting.

There’s Vicki, the CIA psychic spy; Dylan Maguire, who becomes a CIA operative; Brenda, a computer hacker who always seems to get on the wrong side of the law; Chris Sandige, a political operative and Washington insider; Sam, Vicki’s and Dylan’s boss; and Alec, their next door neighbor and sheriff’s deputy.

Please answer 10 to 15 of the questions. Oh, and don't forget to use examples from your book to elaborate on the questions.

Thanks the Angels

EXCERPT: 

For the reader who likes things that go bump in the night (253 words):

Vicki continued into the bathroom and groggily brushed her teeth. Grabbing a washcloth and splashing water over her face, she leaned into the sink to soak up the cool water as it poured from the tap.

She turned off the tap and tried to fully awaken as the water dripped off her face. Rising, she reached for the hand towel along the wall, catching a glimpse of her profile in the bathroom mirror.

Her eyes caught a shadow rippling in the mirror and she froze, her arm suspended in mid-air as she watched the shadowy figure undulating against the shower curtain just behind her. It was thin—far thinner than a human being; perhaps only four feet tall and just inches wide. Yet, two arms extended past the body, moving jerkily like a creature walking and yet it remained fixed in the center of the tub. The torso parted into two legs that were stick-like and lurching.

Then the shadow stopped and turned toward her, as though just realizing she was watching. The head emerged from the body like a person jutting his neck forward, growing as it neared the shower curtain. It swelled in a black intensity while two pits where eyes should have been grew more prominent.

She whipped around to face the shower curtain, her heart pounding, and her breath shallow.

There was nothing there.

She swung back toward the mirror. Her own face stared back at her, her eyes wide and chest heaving. The curtain hung behind her, motionless.

For the reader of romance (273 words):

Vicki let the end of the towel drop so it brushed against her knees as she held the top against her breastbone. With one hand, she pulled the shower curtain back.

Dylan stood barefoot in the doorway, his back against the doorframe, his long legs stretching toward the opposite side, one hand planted against the opposite doorframe as though he’d been semi-reclining there for some time.

She gasped instinctively. “How long have you been there?” she asked, tugging the towel to cover herself.

“Long enough.” Without taking his eyes off hers, he moved deliberately across the bathroom until he stood in front of her. Without speaking, he took her towel and wrapped it around her. As the bath sheet was draped around her slender body, he took the corner and began to gently rub her hair with it. He stopped after a moment, his hand against her face and gazed at her cheek as he brushed it with his thumb.

“What were you cryin’ for, Woman?” he asked.

“I don’t know.”

“‘I don’t know,’ she says. Same thin’ me mum used to say. ‘What are you cryin’ for, Mum?’ I’d say. ‘I don’t know.’ ‘Well, you do it every night. Seems like you’d have figured it out by now.’”

She didn’t answer and after a few seconds, he stopped rubbing her cheek and looked into her eyes.

“I have to tell you, Darlin’. I can’t handle a woman’s tears. Never been able to. Most likely never will. Does somethin’ to me heart that I just can’t abide.” He spoke with his lips pressed close to hers, as if he could smother the tears.

  

AUTHOR INFORMATION:

p.m.terrell is the award-winning, internationally acclaimed author of thirteen books, including six suspense/thrillers and two historical suspense. Suspense Magazine says "p.m.terrell gets better with each and every book she writes" and Midwest Book Review says, "p.m.terrell is a master at skillfully combining drama, action, suspense and romance to engage the reader in an adrenaline rush of page turning adventure." PBS television host Barbara Berlin says, "p.m.terrell is the next John Grisham." A full-time writer for more than 12 years, her latest series, Black Swamp Mysteries, combines international intrigue and adventure with the CIA's psychic spy program, resulting in a series that appeals to lovers of suspense, romance or the paranormal. Prior to becoming an author, terrell operated two computer businesses focusing on computer intelligence and white collar crime. Her clients included the CIA, Secret Service and Department of Defense. For more about terrell and her books, visit www.pmterrell.com.

LINKS:

www.pmterrell.com

Twitter: @pmterrell

Facebook: p.m.terrell, author and Patricia M. Terrell

PRIZE INFORMATION

Gift baskets from the real town of Lumberton, where Vicki's adventure takes place for one random commenter and the host with the most comments.

Don't forget to leave a comment! When you just say hi, you will be entered to win.