Uber Author's Secret Prayer

Remember in Linda Howard's Son Of The Morning, she didn't just write a time travel, but also included how it was done? This was so unusual to me because in most time travel-romance, it's usually done through unexplained means:

1) Heroine gets in some sort of accident, got hit in the noggin, wakes up, finds herself in a different time
2) Heroine or hero does a magic spell (usually hero from past)
3) Waking up in another century in somebody else's body
4) Heroine finds a magical spot, like a rock or a pond, and somehow there's a magical entrance ala mode.
5) Others that you might think of that I haven't yet this morning

Linda Howard did it in SOTM without too much scientific mumbo-jumbo and a dash of magic. There was just enough to get one's interest on the subject while the story moves in the romantic direction of the genre.

SOTM, to me, was such a thrill to read and to this day, remains one of my favorite romance books. It's different and hard to categorize. On one hand, it is a contemporary romantic intrigue. On the other, it's a time travel. Then, let's not forget the Templar Knight myth stuff. Throw in a big Highlander-style hero from medieval times, the Alpha Male Linda Howard trademark. You have historical, science, hot sex, and modern suspense all in one book. That was La Linda at her best--original, totally sexy writing, and action.

So, here I am, late at night, researching on quantum technology, specifically quantum entanglement and teleportation. I'm writing a spy romance with scientific elements that border on the magical. No, the word "teleportation" here doesn't mean my hero and heroine are going to teleport like good old Captain Kirk and gang. Can't do that. Got to make everything believable.

I'm reading my heavy-duty science theories and experiments (and getting my usual headaches from trying to understand the big words) and trying to use these wonderful discoveries in a context that romance readers would enjoy. I don't want my book to be an infodump on how a special hightech bomb works. Most romance readers would just be satisfied that it did, with a little bit of techy explanation.

But because I'm playing with experiments on the human brain and mind, and with no time travel element to explain things magically, and because we're talking about CIA, NSA, Los Alamos labs, NRL, and all those acronyms that spell CLASSIFIED, I need all the techy language in dialogue references as well as an assumption that the reader would be okay with it.

Sure, sure, you would think they would, but it can get pretty confusing when you have five or six covert departments playing head games with each other like my stories do. I already have readers complaining about GEM and COS, along with all the smirks about TIARA (real department, btw) and other unique agencies that's in my world. And then we throw in the SEALs and my editor is questioning whether readers need me to explain, in the middle of a conversation between said SEAL and a knowledgeable operative what BUD/S means because well, the editor doesn't. She has a point--if she didn't, why would the reader (other than the very hardcore SEAL hero fans)?

This isn't a new dilemma for me after five books. I've mostly managed to dodge a lot of these demands with a little bit of revision here or there. Mostly. Because, of course, there are still readers who think my many departments and operatives too confusing.

So, in the middle of the night, while being absolutely excited about my newfound explanation of why/how my characters could communicate the way they do in my Virtual Reality experiment, it suddenly occurred to me that...umm...I'm going to have to explain this lightbulb moment in simple word form that doesn't go on and on and on about quantum theories.

Arghhhhhhhhhhhh. No, actually, I didn't scream like that. The noise that came out of my lungs sounded a bit more maniacal, like a mad woman's laughter. This is what Mary Shelley sounded like when she conceived the idea of Frankenstein.

Virtual Frankenstein...and I hadn't even known I was creating a monster ;-). Because, you see, I, roofer, am writing a three book spy romance story involving Virtual Reality and other great physics theory about dark matter and teleportation theories. I, roofer. Miss D Minus Minus in all things physics and mathematical. Bwahahaha. My Muse likes to torture me.

When I pick up a Linda Howard book, I have full trust in her to take me on a wild ride. I can only hope you'll do the same with Virtually His. Because Book Two, Virtually Hers, is going to be wilder, both in the physics and the physical. Already the sexual quotient is borderline Red. I mean, heck, we're talking about a COS commando given full rein to seduce a GEM operative in and out of virtual reality. Pullease, Muse. Let me do the quantum physics right.

Bear with me while I learn. The first button likes the POST. The second button likes the BLOG site. Please help me by "liking" me. Thanks!